Blackening waxcap or Parrot waxcap

Cap 2-7 cm, cone-shaped or sharply pointed at first, later flattening into a broad cone with a sharp umbo. Bright orange or red-orange, sometimes with yellow tones. Surface moist and waxy, slimy in wet weather. Key feature: it turns black when damaged.

The cap is 1.5 to 4 cm across, occasionally up to 5 cm. It starts bell-shaped or hemispherical, then becomes convex and flattened, often with a low, broad bump. The margin is finely lined when wet.

The surface is coated in thick, glossy slime. Young caps are bright or dark green; the green fades from the centre outwards, leaving the cap yellow, orange-yellow, pinkish or even greyish.

Gills widely spaced, waxy and free. Yellowish to orange at first, they turn black when damaged, and in old mushrooms they're completely black. Spore print white.

The gills are thick, broad, waxy and widely spaced, narrowly attached to the stem. They're greenish near the stem and yellow towards the cap edge, losing the green with age.

The spore print is white.

Stem 4-10 cm tall, 0.4-1 cm thick, slender, cylindrical, hollow, sometimes twisted. Orange-yellow to reddish, with lengthwise fibres. With damage and age it turns black all over. No ring.

The stem is 2 to 7 cm tall and 3 to 8 mm thick, smooth and slimy, with no ring. It's green at the top and yellow to orange-yellow below. It yellows with age, but the green at the top persists even on old specimens, which makes it the best feature to check.

Flesh thin, brittle, yellowish. It turns black when cut or touched, the key diagnostic feature of the group (subgenus Pseudohygrocybe).

The flesh is thin and whitish, sometimes with yellow or green spots.

No distinctive smell, or faintly mushroomy. The taste is mild, but tasting it isn't a good idea.

The smell is faint, sometimes earthy.