Hygrocybe flavescens (Kauff.) Singer
Lilloa 22:154. 1951.

Common Name: none

Synonym: Hygrophorus flavescens

• Pileus

  Cap 2-6 cm broad, convex, becoming plano-convex, the disc slightly depressed or with a low umbo; margin incurved, then decurved, occasionally wavy, sometimes upturned; surface viscid when moist, otherwise, smooth, dry, yellowish-orange to golden-yellow, darkest at the disc shading to a lighter margin, the latter finely striate in moist weather; flesh thin, yellowish, waxy, unchanging; odor and taste mild.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnexed, close to fairly well separated in age, broad, pale yellow to yellow, waxy, thick.

• Stipe

  Stipe 3.5-7 cm tall, 7-12 mm thick, equal, sometimes narrowed at the base, straight, often oval in cross-section, hollow, fragile, tending to split; surface smooth to occasionally innately squamulose, lubricous, but not viscid, yellowish, pallid at the base; veil absent.

• Spores

  Spores 7.5-9 x 4-5 µm, elliptical, smooth, nonamyloid; spore print white.

• Habitat

  Scattered to in small groups in moss, duff in mixed hardwood/coniferous woods; fruiting from mid to late winter.

• Edibility

  Reportedly edible, but untried locally.

• Comments

  Hygrocybe flavescens is part of a contingent of waxy caps that brighten our woodlands, usually after the new year. It is characterized by a viscid (when moist), yellow-orange to golden yellow, broadly convex cap, yellowish notched gills, and a moist to lubricous, yellow or orange-tinged, stipe. Hygrocybe chlorophana is very similar but has a viscid stipe. Another yellow waxy cap, Hgrocybe acutoconicus, can be distinguished by its conic cap.

• References

  Bas, C., Kyper, T.W., Noordeloos, M.E. & Vellinga, E.C. (1990). Flora Agaricina Neerlandica -- Critical monographs on the families of agarics and boleti occuring in the Netherlands. Volume 2. Pluteaceae, Tricholomataceae. A. A. Balkema: Rotterdam, Netherlands. 137 p.
  Bird, C.J. & Grund, D.W. (1979). Nova Scotian Species of Hygrophorus. The Nova Scotia Museum: Nova Scotia. 131 p.
  Hesler, L.R. & Smith, A.H. (1963). North American Species of Hygrophorus. University of Tennessee Press: Knoxville, TN. 416 p.
  Largent, D.L. (1985). The Agaricales (Gilled Fungi) of California. 5. Hygrophoraceae. Mad River Press: Eureka, CA. 208 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Dimitar Bojantchev: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Michael Boom: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Terry Goyan: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • K. Maruyama: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Hygrocybe flavescens (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 115 (D), plate 22 (CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 3): sp. 86 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 135 (D & CP)
  • Largent (1985): p. 64 (D) [Hygrophorus flavescens]
  • Lincoff: p. 660 (D), plate 48 (CP) [Hygrophorus flavescens]
  • Orr & Orr: p. 213 (D) [Hygrophorus flavescens]
  • Miller: sp. 34 (D) [Hygrophorus flavescens]
  • Phillips: p. 66 (CP), p. 67 (D) [Hygrophorus flavescens]
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)