Candy Apple Waxy Cap

Description

Candy Apple Waxy Cap is a common, small to medium-sized, waxcap mushroom. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains. It appears from late spring through fall in deciduous and mixed woodlands, woodland edges, and parks. It grows scattered or in groups but not clustered (gregarious) on the ground under oaks and other hardwoods. The ecology is uncertain.

Some sources, including MycoBank, treat this as a red version of Persistent Waxcap, and name it Hygrocybe acutoconica var. cuspidata. Some treat it as a non-blackening version of Witch’s Hat (Hygrocybe conica). Most sources by far treat it as a separate species.

When it first appears, the cap is bright scarlet red and sharply cone shaped. The surface is hairless and slimy to sticky. As it matures the color fades and the cap broadens. The mature cap is orangish red, more reddish toward the center, broadly cone-shaped, and ¾″ to 1½″ (2 to 4 cm) in diameter. There is usually a distinct pointed bump (umbo) in the center. The margins turn up and become lobed or split on older mushrooms.

The gills are pale orange, orangish yellow, or the same color as the cap but paler, darkening as the spores mature. They are closely spaced at first, becoming more well-spaced at maturity. They may be narrowly attached to the stalk (adnexed) or entirely separated from the stalk (free). They do not blacken when bruised.

The stalk is 1″ to 2⅝″ (2.5 to 6.5 cm) long, 3⁄16″ to ¾″ (5 to 20 mm) thick, and often twisted. It is colored orange or more or less like the cap at first, fading to yellow as it ages, with white just at the base. It may be dry or somewhat sticky when handled. As it ages the surface becomes covered with fine appressed fibers (fibrilose).

The flesh is thin and yellowish or whitish. It does not blacken when bruised. Edibility is unknown.

Similar Species

Habitat and Hosts

Deciduous and mixed woodlands

Ecology

Season

Late spring through fall