– Cap beautifully scarlet-red to blood-red.
– Gills adnexed to adnate, widely spaced, yellow to yellow-red.
– Stem yellow to orange-red, longitudinally fibrillose, with a whitish base.
Grassland waxcaps
Crimson Waxcap
Hygrocybe punicea
NT
Near threatened
Edible
5 images
Characteristics
Ecology
Grows in nutrient-poor and unfertilized grasslands, pastures, meadows, rarely also in broadleafed forests on rich soil.
Notes
Has a mild taste and is best used in mixed mushroom dishes along with more flavorful mushrooms. Colors the dish yellow.
Similar species
Hygrocybe coccinea and other similar red waxcaps do not have a longitudinally fibrillose stem with a whitish base. Hygrocybe conica has a acutely conical cap, turns black when bruised and with age, and is mildly toxic.
