Hygrocybe virescens
Mycotaxon 99: 346. 2007.
Common Name: none
For descriptions see Hesler & Smith & 'California Mushrooms'.
Solitary or in small cespitose clusters in soil under coastal redwoods from San Mateo County north; fruiting in late fall to winter, rare.
Unknown.
Hygrocybe virescens is an uncommon endemic occurring only in association with redwoods. Its distinctive by its lime-green cap and stipe coloration that fade to yellow with green hues in age. Compare with Gliophorus psittacinus that has a slimy-viscid cap and stipe and a dark green to olive cap when young that changes through a rainbow of colors as it fades. Hygrocybe olivaceonigra is a very rare wax-cap that is pale greenish to yellowish green when young but blackens with age.
Boertmann, D. (2010). The Genus Hygrocybe (2nd revised edition). Danish Mycological Society: Copenhagen, Denmark. 200 p.
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Hesler, L.R. & Smith, A.H. (1963). North American Species of Hygrophorus. University of Tennessee Press: Knoxville, TN. 416 p. (PDF)
Largent, D.L. (1985). The Agaricales (Gilled Fungi) of California. 5. Hygrophoraceae. Mad River Press: Eureka, CA. 208 p.
Montoya, L. & Bandala, V.M. (2007). Hygrophorus virescens is transferred to Hygrocybe. Mycotaxon 99: 345-346.
Montoya, L., Bandala, V.M. & Jarvio, D. (2005). New records of Hygrocybe from the Gulf of Mexico area. Mycotaxon 91: 471-480.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
