Parrot Waxcap
A spectacular mushroom with varied colours, mainly between green, yellow and blue with a shiny, slimy cap and stem. As with most waxcaps this mushroom should be left alone to grow and be appreciated as it is not common and is rather inedible due to its sliminess.
Mushroom Type | |
Common Names | Parrot Waxcap (EN), Cap Cwyr y Parot (CY), Wilgotniczka Papuzia (PL), Zöldes Nedűgomba (HU) |
Scientific Name | Hygrocybe / Gliophorus psittacinus |
Synonyms | Hygrocybe psittacina, Hygrophorus psittacinus |
Season Start | Jul |
Season End | Dec |
Average Mushroom height (CM) | 6 |
Average Cap width (CM) | 4.5 |
Cap
Varying colours between green, yellow, blue, grey and brown although usually starting deep bottle green. The cap is slimy and starts convex but will flatten out retaining an umbo.
Gills
Mainly off white to yellow with some green colouring, thick and widely spaced. Transverse ‘gills’ running between the main gills can often be seen.
Stem
Somewhere between green and yellow, usually more dark green/blue towards the top and very slimy.
Habitat
In unimproved grassland like fields and pastures or graveyards, can occasionally occur in open, damp woodland.
Spore Print
White. Ellipsoid.
Frequency
Fairly common for a waxcap.
Other Facts
Waxcaps don’t like to be disturbed or sprayed so will be found where fields and woodland have been left alone.
It is now thought that waxcaps grow in association with mosses, before it was thought that waxcaps were saprophytic living on decaying organic matter.
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