Scarlet Waxcap
Hygrocybe coccinea
Cap Diameter (mm): 
20-40mm
Stem Diameter (mm): 
3-8mm
Stem Height (mm): 
20-50mm
 
Description: 

A small, red fungus with a domed cap and red gills found growing in small troops on soil among cropped, short or mown grass.

Cap: 

Initially hemispherical the convex, scarlet or blood-red, greasy or matt, faintly fibrilose.

Flesh: 

Cap flesh is thin, reddish-orange and unchanging, stem flesh is fibrous and orange.

Gills: 

Broadly adnate with a decurrent tooth, distant, pallid yellow initially the blood-red with age.

Stem: 

More or less equal, may be compressed towards the base, concolorous with the cap or more orange, may be paler towards the base, ring absent, longitudinally fibrilose.

Distribution: 

Infrequent from late Summer till Autumn.

Habitat: 

In soil on short, cropped or mown grassland.

Additional Notes: 

Verified image