Species Focus - Blushing Waxcap (Neohygrocybe ovina)

I always look forward to autumn when the ‘Grassland Fungi’ start fruiting. This is a special group of fungi, which can only be found in unimproved and semi-improved grasslands, and are mostly absent from agriculturally improved grasslands; as a result they are regarded as threatened mainly due to loss of habitat. The most prominent component of this suite of fungi are the Hygrocybes, otherwise known as Waxcaps, and they have received quite a lot of prominence in recent years especially due to Plantlife’s annual ‘Waxcap Watch’ encouraging people to go out and look for them. Many of the waxcaps are brightly coloured, red, yellow, orange, pink or white, and easy to spot in grassland, but there are also a few species with brown fruiting bodies which are much less obvious. One of the most exciting and interesting of these brown species is the Blushing Waxcap, Neohygrocybe ovina, (was Hygrocybe ovina).

This is a medium to large waxcap species with a dark, rich brown, to sometimes almost black cap. Despite its unusual dark colour it still exhibits all the typical characteristics of the waxcaps. They are simple cap and stem fungi with no ring or volva on the stipe (stem), they have a waxy texture to the flesh, and distant, thick and waxy gills, and they produce white spores; plus there are additional microscopic features unique to waxcaps. The cap of the Blushing Waxcap in young specimens is hemispherical with an inrolled margin but it later becomes more broadly convex, flattening with age; the surface texture is dry and often pitted and uneven in older and weathered specimens. Older fruitbodies nestling in the grassland can have a remarkable resemblance to sheep faeces and this is why my name for this fungus is the ‘The Sheep Turd Waxcap’; I’ve turned over many sheep droppings checking for it! The stipe is similarly coloured, dry and often furrowed, compressed and distorted. The gills are very broad and thick and narrowly attached to the stipe, similar in colour but usually paler than the cap.

The special characteristic of the Blushing Waxcap, from where it derives its English name, is the reddening of the flesh when the fruitbody or gills are bruised, damaged or cut. The colour develops slowly over a few minutes to a beautiful dark, dusky pink to red colour. This reddening however does not last and the colour will soon fade again. The dark colour of the fruitbody combined with the blushing feature make this remarkable species easy to identify.

The Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica, turns black with age but its flesh never turns red when bruised. One other waxcap species, the Dingy Waxcap, Neohygrocybe ingrata also shows a slight reddening of the flesh and gills, however, this fungus is reddish-brown with cream-coloured gills and stipe.

The Blushing Waxcap often appears quite early in the autumn, even sometimes appearing as early as July, but in mild seasons I’ve also recorded it in early November. It’s fairly rare, only found in the highest quality, old, unimproved grasslands and has been assessed on ‘The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species’ as ‘Vulnerable’ and declining. Its rare occurrence means it will always be a chance, but special and exciting find.

Please submit any records to Cofnod along with photos of the cap from above, the underside to show the gills and stipe, and the blushing reaction, which will all aid in the verification.