The species identified are listed below:-
1) Hygrocybe pratensis var pratensis with its characteristic orange colour.
2) Hygrocybe russocoriacea with its distinct smell of Russian leather.
3) Hygrocybe virginea var ochraceopallida which is white with a brownish tinge
over the cap.
4) Hygrocybe colemanniana which is a darker shade of brown with decurrent gills
with cross connections.
5) Hygrocybe psittacina var psittacina which is slimy and partly bright green.
6) Hygrocybe irrigata which is the slimiest of them all.
7) Hygrocybe reidii with a strong smell of honey if the stipe is squashed.
8) Hygrocybe quieta with orange gills contrasting with the yellow cap and a charac-
teristic smell similar to Lacterius quietus.
9) Hygrocybe coccinea with scarlet gills at least at their bases.
10) Hygrocybe ceracea which is a small, yellow waxcap with the stipe less than five
millimetres thick.
11) Hygrocybe insipida which is also a small yellow waxcap usually with a reddish
orange colour in the upper part of the stipe.
12) Hygrocybe punicea which is large and crimson with a thick stipe marked with
red longitudinal streaks.
13) Hygrocybe chlorophana which is a bright yellow waxcap with a stipe thicker
than five millimetres.
The discovery of such a variety of waxcaps in Hatfield Forest raises the question of their
conservation. The expansion of Stansted Airport could result in:
1) The deposition of more unburnt aviation fuel or other pollutants on to the
vegetation. These fungi are very sensitive to pollutants.
2) The building of a new railway through or under the forest.
The forest is already a National Nature Reserve and the large variety of waxcap species
that its grasslands contain could add to the evidence against the development of the
airport in its present form at the forthcoming enquiry.
Very rare Russula in Crowsheath Wood
Tony Boniface 40 Pentland Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 4AZ
The end of August produced a flush of the larger fungi although a subsequent hot spell
seemed to finish them off, but now the rains have begun again in the last half of September
a different crop of fungi have appeared. Better than last year but still not a perfect
season, although the last day of September produced four species of waxcaps including
six young fruiting bodies of Hygrocybe calyptriformis in Little Leighs churchyard.
28
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 46, January 2005