Vermilion Waxcap
This frequently encountered small waxcap is a later fall species found growing typically under deciduous trees or mixed forest habitat and is thought to be saprobic. The caps may reach 30mm across but usually are about 12-20mm. Unlike most waxcaps the caps are not greasy or viscid but dry to moist and finely scurfy. They are scarlet when young but may acquire orange tints in age. The gills are thickish, broadly attached, subdistant and cream at first, changing to yellow-orange or reddish orange. The spores are white. The stipes are up to 7cm, often much longer than the cap is wide, dry, smooth, yellow to yellow-orange, equal and curving towards the base. There is no odor and the taste is mild. Said to have a cosmopolitan distribution, the species found in the PNW is likely a look-alike of the EU species that will require a new name.