(23 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
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Blackening Waxcap
Inedible 
Autumn 
Summer 
A fairly common, sometimes brightly coloured Waxcap found growing in grassy locations from summer until late Autumn. As the name suggests, the mushroom becomes black where touched or completely black after some days and will be found in that condition for many weeks. Although listed in most guides as edible this mushroom is not recommended.
| Mushroom Type | |
| Common Names | Blackening Waxcap (EN), Witches Hat, Conical Waxcap, Cap Cwyr Duol (CY), Wilgotnica Czerniejąca (PL), Feketedő Nedűgomba (HU) |
| Scientific Name | Hygrocybe conica |
| Synonyms | Hygrocybe pseudoconica |
| Season Start | Jul |
| Season End | Nov |
| Average Mushroom height (CM) | 1-10 |
| Average Cap width (CM) | 1-8 |
Cap
1-10 cm. Very varied being yellow, orange or red, or a mixture of all three on one cap. The cap is conical until opening out flat and turning black with age or handling. While young, the cap feels dry but still waxy and has what look like radial fibres.
Gills
Starting white to yellow but soon turning black with age or handling. Has tiny lateral ‘ribs’ between the gills which are fairly wide spaced. Fairly crowded and free of the stem to slightly joined (adnexed).
Stem
1-10 cm long, 0.2-1.5 cm diameter. Yellow to orange particularly towards the top, off white to grey lower down and vertically fibrillose. As with all parts of this mushroom the stem will turn black when handled or left to mature.
Flesh
The flesh is white in the hollow stem and off white to yellow in the cap.
Habitat
Grassland, fields, lawns, roadsides, gravel tracks and dunes.
Possible Confusion
Crimson Waxcap (Hygrocybe punicea), pictured, can look similar but is bigger and does not bruise or turn black.
Dune Waxcap (Hygrocybe conicoides) is growing on dunes, its gills are more or less reddish, and really slowly turns black.
There are several potential Waxcap look-a-likes but if it turns black on handling it is the Blackening Waxcap or one of its many variants.
Spore Print
White. Ellipsoid.
Frequency
Common.
Other Facts
The Blackening Waxcap and the Conical Waxcap were considered two distinct species but it is now thought one is a variant. They are now Hygrocybe conica and Hygrocybe conica var. nigrescens. There are many variants of the Blackening Waxcap but these have not all been identified individually yet.
2 comments for Blackening Waxcap
These seem to come up twice a year in my garden – at the start of summer and then during autumn. They look quite pretty to start with and blacken before decaying completely. the slugs etc seem to love them.
Just come across a row of black mushrooms on a grass verge. Fairly pointed in appearance but black all over. In some bits they are in small clusters.