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October 27, 2006 : Hygrocybe coccinea
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Keywords: Hygrophoraceae | Hygrocybe coccinea (Schaeff.) P.Kumm. | MacMillan Provincial Park, British Columbia
I hope I'm right with the identification of today's fungus, but if not, someone please correct me. I believe this is Hygrocybe coccinea, commonly known as red waxy cap. One of the difficulties of identifying fungi by visual comparison to other photographs or illustrations is the morphology changing as they age. Examples of excellent or good matches (in my mind) include the second photograph on this page and the illustration on this page. A so-so match is made with this photograph, however, this match is made worse by the author on that page casting doubt as to whether Hygrocybe coccinea actually occurs in North America (and if it doesn't, this clearly isn't Hygrocybe coccinea). Lastly, Mykoweb's Hygrocybe coccinea page with its links to ten other photographs contains only one photograph out of the ten that is a close match. It certainly would have been helpful if I'd photographed these a few days earlier or followed Michael Kuo's advice on collecting mushrooms for study or making spore prints. As a small aside, if I had intended to collect these for identification, I would have needed a permit (they were growing in a provincial park).
Two more links of interest: a web site dedicated to waxcaps in the UK and another page from Michael Kuo, the waxy caps.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at October 27, 2006 6:31 AM
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Posted by: Olena (photomaniac on Flickr) at October 27, 2006 9:49 AM
Incidentally, the other red mushroom I posted yesterday has to be a different kind - those were growing in dry gravel on a windswept hillside. The largest was no more than 25mm d., and they were distinctly slimy on the topside.
Posted by: Olena (photomaniac on Flickr) at October 27, 2006 10:01 AM
I found that it was useful to do a spore print onto a microscope slide, so that the colour etc. can be seen, and you are ready to see the spores magnified.
Posted by: Big Al at October 27, 2006 11:31 AM
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Well, what a coincidence. That looks a lot like the redcaps I posted to the group pool earlier today, which were from Cape Breton Highlands National Park.