Waxcaps - Identify species

Quick Filter

Cap Colour

Choose as few as possible, ideally the boldest / most vivid colour present. "Darkening" includes black or grey bruising, dark scales and shadowing. Violaceous is often a modifier of another colour, eg. violaceous grey - both can be selected. If multiple colours are ticked, species only need to match one; use the padlocks to make multiple colours required.

Cap Wetness

Use the "kiss test" to check - touch the cap to your lips. The key assumes your fruiting bodies have not dried out and are not wet from rain.

Dry

Waxy

Greasy

Slimy

Cap Texture

Scales may only be visible with a hand lens (try the wide-angle lens on your phone).

Smooth

Scaly

Fibrous

Scaly at centre only

Stem Colour

"Darkening" includes black or grey bruising and dark scales.

Stem Wetness

Dry

Waxy

Slimy

Stem Texture

Eg. Hygrocybe coccinea = smooth, Cuphophyllus pratensis = smooth or fibrillose, Hygrocybe conica = striate.

Smooth

Fibrillose

Striate

Size

Small

Medium

Large

Field Characters

Cap Shape

Cap Margin

Simple

Crenate

Splitting

Irregular

Translucently Striate

Deeply

Margin only

Translucent Eye

Yes

Hygrophanous

Cap becomes paler as it dries?

Yes

Gill Attachment

Free

Narrow

Broad

Emarginate

Decurrent Tooth

Decurrent

Gill Colour

Red

Orange

Yellow

White

Grey

Beige

Brown

Violaceous

Green

Smell

If indistinct, try crushing the cap and placing it in a small plastic box for a few minutes, or drying with a dehydrator or hot air vents in your car. Most species have no distinct smell.

Leather / Cedarwood / Cologne