About this fungus
Orange Mosscap is a fungus in the Repetobasidiaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A minute orange mushroom rising directly through moss, often noticed by colour before its threadlike stem and cap only a few millimetres wide become apparent.
What to check
Look for a 2 to 10 mm orange cap with a darker centre, a translucent-lined margin, and pale cream to orange gills running deeply down the very slender stem. It grows among living moss rather than in dense clusters from wood. The spore print is white, and there is no ring or volva. Microscopy may be needed among other tiny orange species.
Variation
Fresh caps are deepest orange at the centre with paler margins, then fade yellow-orange as they dry or age. The cap becomes broadly convex and may develop a shallow central depression. Size and colour intensity depend strongly on moisture.
Lookalikes
Other tiny orange mosscaps, bonnets and waxcaps can resemble it. Xeromphalina species usually grow in dense groups on wood, while small Cantharellus and Hygrocybe are generally larger. Moss association and deeply decurrent gills narrow the field but do not always establish the species without microscopy.
Habitat and range
Closely associated with moss in woodland, lawns, verges, heath and other damp turf. Its nutritional relationship is not settled: sources describe probable saprobic nutrition together with a possible mutualistic association with moss.
Food safety
Inedible.