Hygrocybe conical (Hygrocybe conica)

Systematics:
  • Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
  • Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
  • Family: Hygrophoraceae (Hygrophoraceae)
  • Genus: Hygrocybe
  • Type: Hygrocybe conica (Hygrocybe conical)

Hat: cap diameter up to 6 cm. Pointed conical shape. Mature mushrooms have a wide conical shape with a sharp tubercle in the center of the cap. The surface of the cap is almost smooth, finely fibrous. In rainy weather, the hat is slightly sticky, shiny. In dry weather – silky, shiny. The surface of the cap is colored orange, yellowish or reddish in places. The tubercle has a darker and brighter color. Mature mushroom is darker in color. Also, the mushroom darkens when pressed.

Records: attached to the hat or loose. At the edges of the cap, the plates are wider. They have a yellowish color. In mature mushrooms, the plates turn gray. When pressed, they change color to grayish-yellow.

Leg: straight, even along the entire length or slightly thicker at the bottom. The leg is hollow, fine-fibred. Yellow or orange, not mucous. At the base of the leg has a whitish color. In places of damage and pressure, the leg turns black.

Pulp: thin, fragile. The same color as the surface of the cap and legs. When pressed, the flesh also turns black. Hygrocybe conical (Hygrocybe conica) has an inexpressive taste and smell.

Spread: It occurs mainly in sparse young plantings, along roadsides and in moorlands. Fruiting from May to October. It grows among grassy landscapes: in meadows, pastures, glades and so on. Less common in forests.

Edibility: Hygrocybe conical (Hygrocybe conica) is not eaten. May cause mild stomach upset. Considered slightly poisonous.

Spore Powder: white.

Similarity: Hygrocybe conical (Hygrocybe conica) has similarities with three other types of mushrooms with blackening fruiting bodies: pseudoconical hygrocybe (Hygrocybe pseudoconica) – a slightly poisonous mushroom, conical hygrocybe (Hygrocybe conicoides), chlorine-like hygrocybe (Hygrocybe chloroides). The first is distinguished by a more shiny and blunt cap of a larger diameter. The second – with plates reddening with the age of the fungus and a layer of red pulp, the third – because its fruiting bodies are not red and orange.

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