Plants and animals of Pointfield

Small toadstool ca. 1.0-1.5 cm in diameter. Cap conical, yellow-orange in colour with darker orange-brown apex and paler margin; distinct darker fine radial banding around outer part; as it ages it turns to a buff colour. Gills adnate to free, yellow-orange in colour, unbranched; edge pale. Stalk slender, about 1-2 mm diameter and up to 5 cm tall; solid, similar in colour to the cap and sometimes almost translucent; pale orange brown like cap at top but often becoming darker downwards; surface prunose covered with fine fuzz (cystidea) along its length especially towards the cap.

Spore-print orange-brown. Spores ovate with slight surface granulation or smooth; a tiny germ pore is present at the pointed end and an asymmetrically placed nipple at the other; no oil inclusions; outer layer firmly attached. Spores are a light brown and stain a dark brown in Meltzer’s reagent. Spores 8.0-9.4 x 5.2-6.2 um; mean = 8.8 x 5.8 um; n=15. Cap surface a smooth epidermis without cystidea. Stalk with prominent lageniform cystidea common. Gill edge with abundant lageniform cystidea; gill walls with only very rare cystidea. Basidia 4-spored.

Short grass in front of house (October). Also found in short grass at bottom of garden near the rhododendrons (February) and in short grass path beyond trellis (June/July).