STATUS, DISTRIBUTION
and IDENTIFICATION
The waxcap fungi of Essex
TONY BONIFACE
40 Pentland Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex CMI 4AZ
Introduction
The attractive group of basidiomycete fungi known as waxcaps (Hygrocybe) have thick, waxy
gills, which are widely separated and often arched. Waxcaps are frequently brightly coloured,
many of them being red, orange or yellow and grow mainly in grassland. Sites where many different
waxcap species grow, are now regarded as of high conservation value. The nature of the surface of
the cap and stalk varies from being dry, through slightly sticky (lubricious), to being covered with
a very slimy mucus (viscid). The best way to distinguish between levels of stickiness, is the "kissing
test", which should be carried out in the field by touching the surface of the fungus with one's upper
lip. immediately after collection. A dry surface feels like rubber, whereas a slightly sticky one feels
oily or slippery, and only adheres slightly to the lip, but a viscid one is slimy or glutinous, and sticks
strongly to the lip and the fingers.
Sometimes the smell is a useful identification aid, such as the difficult to imagine smell of Russian
leather (or more helpfully cedarwood), which once experienced is never forgotten (Hygrocybe
russocoriacea), and the smell of honey, which is often very strong if the stalk is squashed between
the thumb and finger (H. reidii). Another characteristic smell is of burnt rubber, (H. laeta var.
laeta), whereas yet another species has an oily smell unhelpfully compared to bedbugs. (H. quieta).
The smell of some species can be detected more effectively after enclosing the fruiting body in a
small pot for ten minutes, for instance the faint smell of garlic emanating from H. helobia. The
fruiting body may also have a distinctive taste, which in the case of the very bitter H. mucronella
can be detected by touching the surface of the cap with the tip of the tongue.
The attachment of the gills to the stalk should be noted. They may run down the stalk (decurrent),
be broadly attached to it (adnate), be narrowly attached to it with the rounded margin towards it
(adnexed), or not be attached to it at all (free). Microscopic characteristics may also be needed to
confirm identification of a specimen, but these are not often species specific. The spores of all the
species are white, but their shape sometimes helps to identify them to species level. For instance,
some of the spores of H. miniata are 'triangular', and in a few species some of the spores are
constricted in the middle (H. ceracea and H. atrantiosplendens). Sometimes, precise determination
requires sectioning the gills, cap or stalk. The fungal threads (hyphae), found in the mid-line of the
gill (trama), may be parallel or interwoven; if they are parallel they may be long (over 200
micrometres) with tapering ends, or short (less than 200 micrometres) with blunt ends. This requires
sectioning the gills. Sectioning of the cap or stalk is needed to determine the arrangement of the
fungal threads on the surface of these organs. The descriptive names of these surface arrangements
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
131