Citrine Waxcap

Basidiocarps are agaricoid, up to 130mm (5 in) tall, the cap conical at first, retaining an acute or distinct umbo when expanded, up to 90mm (3 in) across, often splitting at the margins. The cap surface is smooth, dry, and radially fibrillose, greenish yellow to lemon-yellow. The lamellae (gills) are waxy, white to pale cap-coloured. The stipe (stem) is smooth, often compressed and grooved or splitting, pale cap-coloured, lacking a ring. The spore print is white, the spores (under a microscope) smooth, inamyloid, ellipsoid, c. 6.5 to 8.5 by 5 to 6μm.

The Citrine Waxcap is widespread but generally rare throughout Europe, with the largest populations in the north west of the continent. Like other waxcaps, it occurs in old, agriculturally unimproved, short-sward grassland (pastures and lawns). In North America, the rare Hygrocybe virescens is similar to H. citrinovirens, but more distinctly green. Recent research suggests waxcaps are neither mycorrhizal nor saprotrophic but may be associated with mosses.