First Mushroom Monday: Parrot Waxcap

The parrot waxcap, Hygrocybe psittacina, is a small and colorful mycorrhizal mushroom found in northern latitudes. It fruits in late summer and into autumn with a green umbonate cap that gains a yellow or pink tinge as it ages. The stipe of the parrot waxcap is a greenish yellow and the gills are green with yellow trim. The mushroom is only about 1-2 inches tall with a cap that only gets up to about 1 inch in diameter.

Parrot Waxcap, Hygrocybe psittacina

Despite it's small size and coating of a mucus-like substance, it is still considered by many as edible.

Taxonomy

Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hygrophoraceae
Genus: Hygrocybe
Species: Hygrocybe psittacina

Photo Cred: By Dan Molter (shroomydan) (Hygrocybe psittacina (Schaeff.) P. Kumm. (54530)) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons