conical wax cap

Description:

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://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/... )

Habitat:

location: North America, Europe edibility: Inedible fungus colour: Yellow, Red or redish or pink, Black or blackish, Orange normal size: Less than 5cm 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 in woods, Grows on the ground, Found in fields, lawns or on roadsides Hygrocybe conica (Scop. ex Fr.) Kummer syn. Hygrophorus conicus (Scop. ex Fr.) Fr. Kegeliger Saftling Hygrophore conique Blackening Waxcap. Cap 2–5cm across, acutely conical and often irregularly lobed, yellow-orange sometimes flushed scarlet becoming black when bruised or with age. Stem 20–60 x 8–10mm, bright yellow and blackening. Flesh pale yellow, bruising black. Taste and smell none. Gills sinuate, pale yellow. Spore print white. Spores broadly ellipsoid, 7–9(10) x 4–5(6)um in four-spored form but 9–12 x 6–8m in two-spored form. Habitat amongst grass in fields, lawns and roadsides. Season summer to late autumn. Frequent. Edible – not recommended. (Never eat any mushroom until you are certain it is edible as many are poisonous and some are deadly poisonous.) Distribution, America and Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

Bioactive compounds The pigment compound muscaflavin (shown below) has been isolated from fruit bodies of H. conica --- Medicinal properties Anti-tumor Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of H. conica and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 90% and 80%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973 ( http://healing-mushrooms.net/archives/hy... ) -- on this site are also 2 more good links, which i otherwise maybe linked myself) --- found this specimen already striked down, must have happend just before i came (or maybe i was it myself), had to balance through a dog-mines-field! for some other mushrooms.