Species details
Nitre waxcap
Hygrocybe nitrata
Inedible
Photo: Gerhard Koller · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A grey-brown to brown waxcap with pale gills and a conspicuous unpleasant chlorine-like or chemical smell.
Identification features
The cap is initially almost conical, later expanded, grey-brown to brown. Gills are creamy white, broad, and brittle. The stem is cream to brownish; flesh smells characteristically of chlorine.
Identification checklist
Check the grey-brown cap, pale broad gills, and especially the strong chlorine-like chemical smell. Odour is important but should not be the only feature.
Detailed features
- Cap
- The cap is initially almost conical, later expanded, grey-brown to brown.
- Hymenophore
- Gills are creamy white, broad, and brittle.
- Stem
- The stem is cream to brownish; flesh smells characteristically of chlorine.
- Smell
- Very strong unpleasant chlorine smell.
- Spore print
- White.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 2–8 cm
- Stem height
- 3–10 cm
- Stem diameter
- 0,3–1,2 cm
Habitat
Grows in meadows, lawns, fields, and also woodland, mainly in autumn; rare.
Fruiting period
September, October
Ecology
- Substrate
- Grassland, Forest soil
- Notes
- Grows in meadows, lawns, fields, and also woodland, mainly in autumn; rare.
How to separate similar species
Other brown waxcaps can look similar but differ in smell, blackening, or gill colour. Waxcaps are a difficult group to identify.
Similar species
- Hygrocybe ovina
- Hygrocybe spadicea
- Blackening waxcap (Hygrocybe conica) DANGEROUS
Conservation
- Red list
- I – indeterminate category
- Notes
- On the Slovenian Red List: I – indeterminate category.
Interesting facts
Did you know? Check the grey-brown cap, pale broad gills, and especially the strong chlorine-like chemical smell. Odour is important but should not be the only feature.