About this fungus
Yellowleg Bonnet is a fungus in the Mycenaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A small bonnet with a sticky yellow to yellow-green stem and a slimy, finely lined cap that varies from pale yellow-grey to olive-brown.
What to check
Look for a viscid yellow stem, a separable gelatinous skin on the cap, pale gills attached with a short tooth running down the stem, and a white spore print. There is no ring or volva. Close Mycena often require microscopic checks.
Variation
Cap colour is highly variable, including whitish, yellow-grey, olive, brown and occasional purplish tones. The yellow stem can also be pale or greyish in some regional forms.
Lookalikes
Other small Mycena can have lined caps, but most lack the combination of a sticky yellow stem and gelatinous peelable cap skin. The M. epipterygia group includes regional varieties and lookalike species, especially outside Europe.
Habitat and range
Saprotrophic among moss, grass, leaf litter, conifer needles and small decaying wood in broadleaf or conifer woodland, heath and grassland. Regional members of the group may differ in preferred substrate.
Food safety
Edibility is uncertain or disputed.
Photographs
Sava Krstic (sava) / CC BY-SA 3.0
James Lindsey / CC BY-SA 3.0