Mushroom Time

 We have finally had some decent rains, and mushrooms are coming up all over. To the left is a Lepista Nuda, the Wood Blewit, a pretty good-tasting edible mushroom. This specimen lacks a lot of the pretty purple color that is found at the base of the stem and in the gills of young specimens. But the cap has that nice light brown, and its growing in a spot that I know produces blewits, so I fried it up. The smell is very earthy, woodsy.

 To the right, we have what I first thought might be a Caesar mushroom - supposedly very good eating, but because I dont know this species, I looked it up. Good thing I did. The Caesar mushroom is an Amanita, like the deadly Death Cap and the red/speckled white fairy-sitting-on-the-top mushroom. Accordingly, it should have been growing out of something looking like an egg (the volva). As you can see, no such stem base existed. A little searching revealed it to be a Hygrocybe

Here it is growing in the lawn. Notice the black stain on the top of the cap, and in the picture above, at the base. If you cut or bruise the stem more (as I did), it turns pretty black. In the picture above, you can also see that the cap is quite slimy, as is the stem, although you cant see this in the picture. These are pretty diagnostic of:


Hygrocybe singeri is essentially a slimy-stemmed version of Hygrocybe conica. Like its more familiar cousin, Hygrocybe singeri discolors black and has a brightly colored, conical cap. But while the stem of Hygrocybe conica is dry or faintly greasy, the stem of Hygrocybe singeri is truly slimy, making it difficult to pick.

Not generally poisonous (although some close cousins might be), but not generally edible. Tossed onto the compost heap.  The common name is "Witch's Hat".