Hygrocybe punicea (Fries) Kumm.
Führ. Pilzk. 112. 1871.

Common Name: Scarlet Waxy Cap

Synonym: Hygrophorus puniceus

• Pileus

  Cap 4-12 cm broad, conical to convex when young, broadly convex to plane in age; margin incurved to decurved; surface glabrous, shiny, viscid to lubricous; color bright red to deep red, fading, usually in splotches to reddish-orange to orange; flesh thin, waxy; taste and odor indistinctive.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnexed to narrowly sinuate, subdistant to distant, waxy; color dark reddish orange to orangish yellow to peachy to yellow; margin smooth to eroded.

• Stipe

  Stipe 3-14 cm long, 0.5-2 cm thick, equal or narrowed at base; surface dry, typically strongly longitudinally striate; color yellow or red fading to orange or yellow, base white or occasionally yellow.

• Spores

  Spores 8-11 x 5-6 µm, smooth, nonamyloid, elliptical to narrowly elliptical. Spore print white.

• Habitat

  Solitary to scattered to gregarious in humus beneath coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and hardwoods during winter.

• Edibility

  Possibly edible, but least some people are adversely affected by it.

• Comments

  Hygrocybe punicea is one of our most beautiful and conspicuous waxy caps. It is most likely to be confused with Hygrocybe coccinea, which is smaller, has a dry to subviscid cap, and a red stipe with yellow base that lacks the longitudinal striations.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Robert Mackler: Hygrocybe punicea (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Hygrocybe punicea (CP)
  • Il Mondo dei Funghi: Hygrocybe punicea (D & CP)
  • K. Maruyama: Hygrocybe punicea (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 114 (D), plate 21 (CP)
  • Arora (1991): p. 45 (D & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 138 (D & CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 3): sp. 99 (D, I, & CP)
  • Largent: p. 99 (D) [Hygrophorus puniceus]

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)