About this fungus
Orange Mycena is a fungus in the Mycenaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A vivid orange North American bonnet that forms dense clusters on dead hardwood.
What to check
Look for sticky orange caps, slender orange stems and pale gill faces with distinctly deeper orange edges. The orange pigment can mark nearby surfaces when fresh. There is no ring or volva, and growth is directly from hardwood rather than soil.
Variation
Young fruit bodies are bright orange. Caps fade through dull orange to pale yellow-orange or nearly whitish as they age and dry.
Lookalikes
Mycena texensis and other orange bonnets can be similar. Substrate, geography and microscopic characters such as spore size may be required. The Australasian name Mycena leaiana var. australis may represent a separate regional taxon.
Habitat and range
Saprotrophic in dense clusters on decaying logs, stumps and branches of broad-leaved trees in eastern North America, fruiting mainly in warm wet periods.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Jason Hollinger / CC BY 2.0