A sombre mushroom

Down among the dunes again this morning, I was delighted to find  that the first of the waxcap fungi are appearing among the short vegetation on the dune slacks.

This is the fruiting body of the blackening waxcap Hygrocybe conica. Whilst developing they can be red, orange or yellow in colour. The hairy thing has nothing to do with the waxcap; it is the air-bone seed of a thistle which has managed a crash-landing on the fungus.

As soon as these mushrooms reach maturity they turn jet black all over, and they remain in that state for several weeks, often in large groups. A blackened specimen is to be seen as an "extra".

The genus name Hygrocybe means 'watery head' and refers to the fact that fungi in this group are always very moist. The species have sharply conical caps, reminiscent of a witch's hat, and unsurprisingly the specific epithet conica simply means conical. So, here we are dealing with the 'conical, watery-headed fungus'!