Bleeding Fairy Helmet

(Mycena haematopus)

Conservation Status
Bleeding Fairy Helmet
Photo by Honey Fae (Farah)
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Bleeding Fairy Helmet is a small, common, widely distributed, bonnet mushroom. It occurs in Europe, North America, Chile, eastern Australia, and Japan. In the United States it occurs in the east from New Hampshire to Georgia, west to Minnesota and eastern Texas, and in the west from western Washington to southwestern California. It is found from spring through fall, usually in dense clusters, sometimes alone or scattered. It grows on hardwood logs that are free of bark and well decayed. It rarely grows on coniferous logs. It obtains its nutrients from decaying wood (saprobic).

When it first appears, the cap is oval to bell-shaped and reddish to brownish-red, reddish-brown, or pinkish brown. It is dark in the center and lighter near the margins. The surface is dry, rough to the touch (scurfy), and dusted with fine powder. The margin often extends beyond the gills. As it ages the cap expands and becomes bald. Mature caps can be convex or nearly flat and to 2 (1 to 5 cm) in diameter, but they are usually broadly cone-shaped or broadly bell-shaped and no more than 1 (3.5 cm) in diameter. The margins are sometimes shallowly lined or grooved. On older specimens the edges are usually toothed, lobed, or scalloped.

The gills are closely spaced and may be broadly attached or narrowly attached to the stalk. They are whitish at first, becoming grayish or purplish with age. They sometimes develop reddish-brown stains, and they stain reddish-brown when bruised. The edges are cottony white. Between the main gills there are frequent short gills that attach to the margin but do not extend all the way to the stalk.

The stalk is fragile, hollow, 1¼ to 3 (3 to 8 cm) long, and 132 to (1 to 3 mm) thick. It is brownish-red to reddish-brown or nearly purple, and sometimes has scattered hair-like fibers (fibrils). On young specimens it bleeds a purplish-red latex when broken.

The flesh is thin, fragile, and colored like the cap or paler. It bleeds a purplish-red latex when cut. It is edible but tasteless and insubstantial.

The spore print is white.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat and Hosts
 
 

Decayed hardwood

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Season

 
 

Spring through fall

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

 
  11/23/2022      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Fungi (fungi)  
  Subkingdom Dikarya  
  Phylum Basidiomycota (club fungi)  
  Subphylum Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)  
  Class Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)  
  Subclass Agaricomycetidae  
  Order Agaricales (common gilled mushrooms and allies)  
  Suborder Marasmiineae  
 

Family

Mycenaceae  
 

Genus

Mycena (bonnets)  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Agaricus haematopus

Galactopus haematopus

Mycena haematopoda

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Bleeding Fairy Helmet

Bleeding Mycena

Burgundydrop Bonnet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Saprobic

A term often used for saprotrophic fungi. Referring to fungi that obtain their nutrients from decayed organic matter.

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Honey Fae (Farah)

 
    Bleeding Fairy Helmet      
           
 
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Other Videos
 
  Bleeding Fairy Helmet Mushroom [Mycena haematopus]
Jack of All Clades
 
   
 
About

Sep 23, 2020

this is the bleeding fairy helmet mushroom Mycena haematopus. When this mushroom is damaged it leaks out a blood like liquid that looks pretty cool. So it's pretty easy to see where this mushroom gets its name.

 
  La seta que sangra, a bleeding Mycena, Mycena haematopus 4K
he wonderful world of mycology
 
   
 
About

Nov 7, 2020

Nature is always giving us precious things, such as mushrooms of the genus Mycena. I have been looking for this mushroom for years that I present to you today, and this year I have finally found it on several occasions. It is a curious Mycena, since when cutting it a red latex bleeds, as you can see in the video. When you get into the world of mushrooms, more and more, you stop thinking with your stomach, to think with your heart. This and other species that I have been showing you, make you forget about day-to-day problems, to enjoy the moment. Happiness is given by little moments like this.

Mycena haematopus (Pers.) P. Kumm. 1871

Characteristics
-Cap: Small in size between 1.5-3 cm, flared conical in shape, with and without umbo, the surface is striated by the transparency of the reddish-brown blades
-Gills: adnate, spaced, whitish in youth and reddish brown in maturity, where purplish spots also appear due to the remains of latex
- Stem: 4-10 cm long by 2-3 mm in diameter, straight or curved, brittle, hollow, powdery over the entire surface and at the base covered with fibrils. Reddish brown in color. When cut, it gives off a latex the color of blood
-Flesh: Very fine, fragile and scarce. When cut, it gives off a latex the color of blood. Priceless smell and taste
-Edibility: No culinary interest
-Habitat: Lignicola, saprophytic in decaying wood, grows in a cespitose shape (several specimens joined by the foot). In our case, in oak branches (Quercus pirenaica)
- Season: In autumn
-Place: Gorbeia Natural Park - Basque Country
-Confusions: with the bloody Mycena, it throws red latex, but it comes out individually in sheets, and stands finer. With the orange or bright red latex Mycena crocata, but comes out individually in leaves, and finer foot

 
  Bleeding Mushroom
Find In Nature - mycology, fungi
 
   
 
About

Dec 26, 2019

This is a bleeding mushroom, a mushroom that bleeds after being cut. If you like it, subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVP-MWBmKG_wxepwZahh8eQ . Burgundydrop Bonnet (Mycena haematopus) is an interesting Mycena that bleeds when you cut it. This bleeding mushroom that grows on wood of deciduous forests, is a Mycena that is easily identified in the field. The other Mycena that bleeds is the Bleeding Bonnet (Mycena sanguinolenta) but that one grows on the ground in conifer woods.

 

 

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  Honey Fae (Farah)
July 2020

Location: Anoka County

Bleeding Fairy Helmet

 
           
 
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Created: 11/26/2022

Last Updated:

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