Wind and Waxcaps (November 19th 2009) - from Geoff's Column
On a day when the northern parts of the British Isles were battered by gales and deluged with floods, the sun was still shining down here in Sussex. Perhaps not the best day to go foraging on top of the South Downs, but it all seemed quite calm where I parked my car on the northern side. The long walk up the hill was almost entirely mushroomless, but as I approached the top, everything changed. The windspeed quadrupled, and the fungi appeared. Most were too dried and shrivelled by the wind to be identified, apart from some Agaricus augustus that were also past their best. Only one genus of fungi was thriving in these conditions and it was the Waxcaps (Hygrocybe). Scattered troops of small red, orange and white mushrooms dotted the hilltop in every direction I looked. Collecting them wasn't so easy. I was permanently in danger of being blown off the hill back down into the Weald below, and the usually-simple act of opening a bag and inserting mushrooms became a mission in itself. I stayed only twenty minutes before the weather defeated me, collecting what I believed was enough waxcaps to make a decent portion for my dinner.
Three of these fungi are edible and one is not. As is the way of the world, the one I picked the most of was the one that you can't eat. Snowy and Cedarwood Waxcaps can be distinguished visually, but only just, and not very easily when you are having trouble not being blown off your feet. The Cedarwoods are slightly yellower - the caps look like they are wetter than those of the Snowys. It's your nose that most easily tells you which is which. Snowy Waxcaps don't smell of much, Cedarwood Waxcaps smell strongly of pencil sharpenings, which is presumably why people don't eat them.
Gills and stem of Scarlet Waxcap.
Foraging notes
Identifying Hygrocybes becomes much easier once you have encountered a few of them and got a feel for what a Hygrocybe is like. H. pratensis often causes problems. Many people don't realise which genus this mushroom belongs to when they first try to identify it. H. coccinea is unmistakably a waxcap, but could conceivably be confused with several other bright red members of the genus, some of which are listed as unknown ediblity, although none are suspected of being seriously poisonous. H. russocoriacea can be identified by its cedarwood smell, and once you know this one then H. virginea is reasonably easy to identify. However, if you're not familiar with the waxcaps at all then you need to be careful before thinking of eating a Snowy Waxcap. There are quite a few small, white grassland fungi that a beginner might mistake for Hygrocybe virginea and as a general rule you should be very wary of eating any white-gilled mushroom unless you are absolutely certain what it is.
All three are good fried in butter, with H. coccinea just winning by a nose, thanks in part to its spectacular looks.
wow,beautiful mushrooms!
On saturday we went to this green festival, and there they said that one of these Hygrocybes is almost excitct in uk.Wich one?
I would really love to see it for myself too...
where did you find it? We also forage in Sussex.Where do you think is the richest mushroom kingdom around here?
Thanx
xx
Posted By,
geoff on
August 17,2010
Hi Katka,
None of the hygrocybes in those pictures are rare, let alone almost extinct. There are some yellow ones which are listed by Roger Phillips as uncommon. The National Trust doesn't like people picking them on their property, but I think this is more because they are considered too pretty and not substantial enough to warrant eating.
As for the best places to find mushrooms in Sussex...that would be giving away secrets it has taken me two decades to discover! ;-D
You can't go wrong in the Ashdown Forest.
Geoff
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