Meadow hygrophorus (Cuphophyllus pratensis)
- Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Hygrophoraceae (Hygrophoraceae)
- Rod: Cuphophyllus
- Type: Cuphophyllus pratensis (meadow hygrophorus)
External Description
Golden yellow or pale brown fruiting body. At first, the cap is strongly convex, then flat-opening with a sharp thin edge and a central tubercle; pale orange or rusty in color. Thick, sparse, bodily plates descending on a cylindrical, tapering downward, smooth, pale stalk 5-12 mm thick and 4-8 cm long. Ellipsoid, smooth, colorless spores, 5-7 x 4-5 microns.
Edibility
Edible.
Habitat
Often found in grasses in moderately wet or dry meadows, pastures, rarely in grassy light forests.
Season
End of summer – autumn.
Similar species
It is similar to the edible Colemann hygrophore, which has whitish plates, a reddish-brown cap and grows in swampy and wet meadows.