Hygrocybe conic (Hygrocybe conica) photo and description

Conical hygrocybe (Hygrocybe conica)

Systematics:
  • Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
  • Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
  • Family: Hygrophoraceae (Hygrophoric)
  • Genus: Hygrocybe (Hygrocybe)
  • Species: Hygrocybe conica

Conical hygrocybe

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, fine-fibred. In rainy weather, the cap is slightly sticky, shiny. In dry weather, it is silky and shiny. The surface of the cap is colored orange, yellowish, or in places reddish. The tubercle is darker and brighter in color. A mature mushroom of a darker color. Also, the mushroom darkens when pressed.

Plates: attached to the cap or loose. At the edges of the cap, the plates are wider. Are yellowish in color. In mature mushrooms, the plates turn gray. When pressed, they change color to grayish yellow.

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

Flesh: thin, fragile. The same color as the surface of the cap and legs. When pressed, the pulp also turns black. Hygrocybe conic (Hygrocybe conica) has an expressionless taste and smell.

Distribution: Found mainly in rare young plantings, along roads and on heather wastelands. Fruiting from May to October. It grows among grassy landscapes: in meadows, pastures, glades, and so on. Less common in forests.

Edible: The conical hygrocybe (Hygrocybe conica) is not eaten. May cause mild stomach upset. Considered mildly toxic.

Spore powder: white.

Similarity: Hygrocybe conic (Hygrocybe conica) bears similarities with three other types of mushrooms with blackening fruit bodies: hygrocybe pseudoconica (Hygrocybe pseudoconica) - a weakly poisonous mushroom, conical hygrocybe (Hygrocybe conicoides), hygrocybe chlorine-like (Hygrocybe chloroides). The first is distinguished by a more shiny and blunt-conical cap of a larger diameter. The second - the plates and a layer of red flesh that turn red with age of the fungus, the third - because its fruit bodies do not have red and orange colors.