Blackening waxcap OR Witch's hat

Description:

Hygrocybe conica, commonly known as the witch's hat, conical wax cap or conical slimy cap, is a colourful member of the genus Hygrocybe (the waxcaps), found across northern Europe and North America. Originally described as Hygrophorus conicus, it may actually be a complex of closely related and similar species (wikipedia)

Habitat:

Hygrocybe nigrescens (Quél.) Kühn. syn. H. pseudoconica Lange syn. Hygrophorus nigrescens (Quél.) Quél. Schwärzender Saftling. Cap 3.5–5.5cm across, bell-shaped or broadly conical often irregularly lobed, orange or scarlet blackening with age. Stem 30–70 x 6–10mm, yellow flushed scarlet with white base, becoming streaked black. Flesh yellowish in the cap, white in the stem, blackening on exposure to air. Taste mild, smell not distinctive. Gills adnexed or free, pale yellow. Spore print white. Spores ellipsoid, 8–11 x 5–6um. Basidia four-spored. Habitat amongst grass in fields or woods. Season autumn. Occasional. Edible. (Never eat any mushroom until you are certain it is edible as many are poisonous and some are deadly poisonous.) Found In Europe location: Europe edibility: Edible fungus colour: Yellow, Red or redish or pink, Black or blackish normal size: 5-15cm cap type: Conical or nearly so stem type: Simple stem flesh: Flesh discolours when cut, bruised or damaged, Mushroom slimy or sticky spore colour: White, cream or yellowish habitat: Grows on the ground, Found in fields, lawns or on roadsides ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

Unlike most of the red to orange waxy caps in North America, the witch's hat is relatively easy to identify: virtually all parts of the mushroom bruise and discolor strongly black. In fact, one sometimes finds older specimens that have discolored so much that they appear almost completely black. C. Ribet's photoseries, at the bottom of this page, represents the witch's hat in its various stages of development. Hygrocybe conica is the most common and widely distributed species in the cluster of species that forms the witch's hat complex. Hygrocybe singeri is similar, but has a slimy stem. Other members of the cluster include Hygrocybe nigrescens, which is inconsistently described but may differ in minor morphological features. Hygrocybe cuspidata blackens only at the stem base, if at all. I have not found the difference between scarlet and orange versions to be indicative of anything; many of my collections contain mushrooms demonstrating both colors in the fresh condition (before fading ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hygrocybe_... ) ( http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&sa... )