BioImages: The Virtual Field-Guide (UK)

Hygrocybe (Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871 (waxcaps)

Notes (MWS)

In Europe, the waxcaps are principally toadstools of unimproved grassland although in North America they are mainly found woodland. Many of our species are large and strikingly bright coloured, although the colour can be washed out by rain or bleached by sunlight.

Characterised by distant thick and waxy gills (hence "waxcap") and microscopically by long slender basidia.

Records (and photo sets)

Taxon	Summary	Date	Vice-county	Country
Hygrocybe?	Fruitbody on pale background	13 October 2006	Derby	England	4	3
Hygrocybe?	Fruitbody	7 October 1983	North Wiltshire	England	6
Hygrocybe	Fruitbody	26 June 1979	Surrey	England	2
Hygrocybe	Fruitbody	22 August 1978	(Scotland)	Scotland	3

Subtaxa

Rank	Taxon
Subgenus	Cuphophyllus (a group of waxcaps)	15
Section (Bot.)	Cuphophyllus ss. Donk (a group of waxcaps)	11	78	29	14	1	16
Species	Hygrocybe viola J. Geesink & Bas, 1985 (a waxcap)						2
Section (Bot.)	Oreocybe Boertm. (a group of waxcaps)	3					5
Subgenus	Hygrocybe ss. Bon (a group of waxcaps)	16
Section (Bot.)	Chlorophanae (Herink) Arnolds (a group of waxcaps)	4	43	45	16	1	8
Section (Bot.)	Hygrocybe (ss.) Bon (a group of waxcaps)	8	105	56	21	2	7
Species	Hygrocybe helobia (Arnolds) Bon, 1976 (a waxcap)						1
Section (Bot.)	Microsporae Boertm., 1995 (a group of waxcaps)	3	39	13	11	4	3
Subgenus	Pseudohygrocybe (a group of waxcaps)	29
Section (Bot.)	Coccineae Fayod (a group of waxcaps)	19	192	170	44	4	26
Section (Bot.)	Glutinosae Kuhner (a group of waxcaps)	5	42	33		4	7
Species	Hygrocybe aurantia (Murrill) Natarajan & Purush., 1989 (a waxcap)						2
Section (Bot.)	Neohygrocybe Herink (a group of waxcaps)	4	26		2		4

Suggested Literature

Identification Works

Arnolds, E.	Chapter in…
Bas, C., Kuper, T.W., Noordeloos, M.E. and Vellinga, E.C., 1990	Flora Agaricina Neerlandica 2
Boertmann, D., 1995	The Genus Hygrocybe
Bon, M., 1990	Hygrophoraceae
Candusso, M., 1994	Hygrophorus
Waxcap Website: http://www.aber.ac.uk/waxcap/index.shtml	Web Site/Page
Henrici, A., 1996	Waxcap-grassland Fungi
Orton, P.D., 1980	Notes on British Agarics: VII

General Works

Boniface, T., 2001	Fungi in an Essex Churchyard
Evans, S., 2000	Cross-off sheets for easy recording of Fungi - 2 Hygrocybe - Field Characters
Evans, S., 2001	Conservation Corner (Jan 2001)
Evans, S., 2003	British Waxcap-grassland cross-off list
Evans, S., 2003 (latest on wax-cap grasslands)	Conservation Corner (April 2003)
Evans, S., 2003 (Government plans to reduce upland grazing could adversely affect the waxcap grassland assemblage)	Conservation Corner (Jan 2003)
Evans, S., 2003 (Publication of "Grassland Gems: managing lawns and pastures for fungi")	Conservation Corner (Oct 2003)
Fortey, R., 2000	Old Churchyards as fungal conservation areas
Griffith, G.W. Bratton, J.H. & Easton, G., 2004	Charismatic megafungi: the conservation of waxcap grasslands
Griffith, G.W., 2004	The use of Stable Isotopes in Fungal Ecology
Holden, L., 2000	Conservation Corner: Scottish Waxcap Survey
Holden, L., 2003	Conservation Corner (July 2000)
McHugh, R., Mitchel, D., Wright, M. and Anderson, R., 2001	Fungi of Irish Grasslands and their value for Nature Conservation
Russell, P., 2005	Grassland Fungi and the Management History of St. Dunstan's Farm