by Danny Miller

Just in time for Hallowe’en but a day early for the November mushroom of the month, we have the classic Hallowe’en mushroom – Hygrocybe ‘conica’, the witch’s hat. I thought it would be fun to follow up last month’s colourful Leptonias with my other favourite group of colourful mushrooms., the waxy caps. Just like in Leptonia, there is something extra magical about these colourful little beauties. Not only do different species come in different bright colours like red, orange, yellow, pink, green and blue, but the texture is often like a fake mushroom made out of wax. And you will soon have success if go looking for them, as they can be very common and are much easier to find than Leptonia.

Of the dozens of common colourful waxy caps around here, I want to talk in particular about Hygrocybe ‘conica’ (perhaps more accurately called Hygrocybe singeri). Not only is it a bright red-orange-yellow that looks like it is made of wax, it is the only one that will turn black after it is touched. Wait long enough, and it might turn entirely black! Plus, it has one of the most sharply pointed caps, like a witch’s hat. This definitely qualifies it for the nickname of Hallowe’en mushroom. And when are you most likely to find it? You guessed it… right around Hallowe’en!

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by Danny Miller

Last month we talked about Pluteus, one of the two families of pink spored (actually salmon-pinkish brown spored) mushrooms. This month we will talk about the other, and in particular, some of my favourite mushrooms of all time!

Unlike Pluteus, with free gills that do NOT attach to the stem and mostly found growing on wood, Entoloma has gills that DO attach to the stem and is found mostly on the ground. They also have a unique spore shape, usually like little stop signs under a microscope instead of the usual round shape. No other mushrooms have angular spores like that, making them easy to spot.

Most mushrooms in the Entoloma family, in particular the Entolomas themselves and Nolanea are very boring. They are almost completely non-descript watery brown mushrooms of little interest. But then there are the magical Leptonias which have special pigments making them almost metallic blue or orange (and sometimes pink and the related Alboleptonia are a radiant white colour). Leptonias are usually small and graceful. Unfortunately, they are not found that often, but keep your eyes open because it will be a truly special day when you finally do find one.

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