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Orange waxcap troop at a boulder
cf. Hygrocybe Genus
Angles captured. Nine frames from several sides, including low views that silhouette the caps against the boulder.
Morphology
A troop of four or more. Cap 2–3 cm, bright egg-yellow to soft orange, with a shallowly depressed centre, smooth and slightly greasy. Stipe clear yellow-orange, long relative to the cap (4–6 cm), smooth, dry and hollow-looking, white at the very base. One frame shows a fruitbody with a wavy, almost lobed cap margin.
Habitat & substrate
Dark humus and moss in the drip line at the base of a large moss-covered boulder, deep shade.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
The greasy orange-to-yellow cap, clear yellow stipe and slightly depressed disc are all waxcap characters. Cantharellus is excluded — these have true gills and a distinct cap, not blunt ridges.
To confirm this identification
One square-on underside frame. Waxcap gills are thick, waxy, widely spaced and often decurrent, and are unmistakable once seen.
Notes
Very close in appearance to the waxcap found at Massasoit Rd on 1 August (TM0023) — worth comparing directly.
Corrected. Frames #4203 and #4210 were originally included here; they are a different, squat, ground-level fungus and now sit in TM0042. Corrected. Softened to cf.: the waxy-gill character that defines the genus was not captured.
Found at Elm St area, Leominster, MA on Thursday, 6 August 2026 at 10:54. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Tiny orange mushrooms at a boulder baseUnidentified small orange agaric · Jul 31Low
Pink-tan capped agaricUnidentified agaric · Jul 31Low
White-capped agaric in litterUnidentified agaric · Jul 31Low
White cap in leaf litterUnidentified agaric · Jul 31Low
Orange-and-yellow cap in oak litterUnidentified · Aug 1Low–moderate
Fly agaric buttonAmanita muscaria var. guessowii · Aug 1High
Tiny orange mushrooms at a boulder base — revisitUnidentified small orange agaric · Aug 1Low
White agaric in grassUnidentified agaric · Aug 1Low