Laccaria sp.
Fungi > Division Basidiomycota > Class Agaricomycetes > Order garicales > Family Hydnangiaceae.
They can be solitary or in clusters on soil, leaf litter, mosses, ferns or trees.
Caps are often 10 to 35 cm across, most are under 5 cm but some are up to 6 cm.
Young caps are convex then flatten with age often developing a depressed centre or umbilicus.
The surface can be smooth or finely hairy and some older ones are scaly.
Caps are various shades of red-brown, orange-brown, red or pink and a couple are purplish.
They fade with age to a dull brown or orange–brown.
There are often pale, translucent striations at the margin.
Stems are hollow and up to 7 to 10 cm high by 1 cm thick.
They are mainly cylindrical but some widen towards the top or base.
They are white or pale pink or about the same colour as the cap.
They have fine longitudinal hairs, often a pale or dark reddish-brown or orange-brown.
At the base is a white, matted mycelium.
The gills can be a pale or dark reddish-brown to pink or purple.
They are thick, widely spaced and interspersed with short gills (lamellulae).
The gills may be free of the stem or attached to various degrees but only for a short distance.
Spore print is white and spores are often ornamented.
It can be difficult to distinguish some species even using microscopic features.
J.F.
