Laccaria sp.
Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Hydnangiaceae.
It can be difficult to distinguish some species even using microscopic features.
They can be solitary or in clusters, on leaf litter, mosses, ferns or trees.
Caps are often 10 to 35 cm across but some are up to 60 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.
The cap is variously lined to some degree – often pale, translucent striations at the margin
extending towards the centre.
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.
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.
They are thick, widely spaced and interspersed with short ones.
The gills may be free of the stem or attached to various degrees but only for a short distance.
Spore print is white.
J.F.
