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Slimy Waxcap
Inedible 
Autumn 
Summer 
Winter 
The sliminess of this Waxcap makes it both easy to identify but very hard to handle. Due to it being covered in slime it in considered inedible.
| Mushroom Type | |
| Common Names | Slimy Waxcap (EN), Cap Cwyr Llysnafeddog (CY), Wilgotniczka Szara (PL), Szürke Nedűgomba (HU) |
| Scientific Name | Hygrocybe / Gliophorus irrigatus |
| Synonyms | Hygrocybe irrigata, Hygrocybe unguinosa, Hygrophorus irrigatus, Gliophorus unquinosus |
| Season Start | Jul |
| Season End | Dec |
| Average Mushroom height (CM) | 5 |
| Average Cap width (CM) | 3 |
Cap
Covered in slime and grey to grey/brown, can sometimes be quite pale. Starting conical but partly flattening out.
Gills
The gills are widely spaced and notched before becoming slightly decurrent. There are transverse ‘gills’ running between the main gills.
Stem
Concolourous with the cap, hollow and covered in slime.
Flesh
Grey to off white with a hollow stem.
Habitat
Amongst grass in pastures, fields and sometimes open woodland.
Possible Confusion
Other grey waxcaps but these will not be covered in slime. The Slimy Waxcap has no distinctive smell.
Spore Print
White. Ellipsoid to oval.
Frequency
Common.
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 or decaying organic matter.
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