Meadow waxcap or False chanterelle

The cap is 2 to 8 cm across, up to 10 to 12 cm in large specimens. It starts convex, then flattens, often with a broad bump or a slightly sunken centre, and has a thin margin. The surface is dry and matt, smooth or with faint flattened fibres, slightly slippery in wet weather, and may crack with age.

The colour is pale salmon, apricot, orange-buff or brownish orange, fading to pale buff with age. A rare form is entirely white.

The cap is 3-8 cm across, convex with an inrolled margin when young, becoming funnel-shaped with a thin wavy margin. It's bright orange, brick-toned, more intense in young mushrooms (orange to orange-red) and paler in old ones, fading to yellow-ochre. The surface is velvety, suede-like, with barely visible fine scales, especially at the centre. In wet weather it's slightly matte, not sticky.

The gills are thick, broad, widely spaced, waxy to the touch and clearly decurrent, often running more than a centimetre down the stem. Many shorter gills sit between them, and older caps develop cross-veins. They start whitish or cream and later take on the cap colour.

The spore print is white. These thick, distant, decurrent gills are the best way to tell it from its lookalikes.

It has true, crowded gills, not the gill-like ridges of the real chanterelle. They're thin and decurrent, forking again and again but without the cross-veins of the real chanterelle, and orange-yellow, matching the cap. The spore print is white to pale yellow. The key feature that sets it apart from the real chanterelle: if you see distinct thin gills, it's the false chanterelle.

The stem is 3 to 8 cm tall and 0.5 to 1.5 cm thick, sturdy, solid and later hollow, tapering towards the base. It's white or cream, tinged with the cap colour at the top, and always paler than the cap. There's no ring or volva.

The stem is 2-6 cm tall and 0.5-1.2 cm thick, cylindrical, often curved and slightly thickened toward the base. It's orange-yellow like the cap, smooth, with no ring. The stem flesh is soft and thin, not as dense and springy as the real chanterelle's.

The flesh is thick in the cap, whitish, pale orange or pinkish buff, and doesn't change colour when cut.

The flesh is thin, watery, yellowish-cream and brittle, and doesn't change colour when cut. There's no distinct smell. Older ones taste slightly sour.

The smell and taste aren't distinctive. There's no mealy smell, unlike the oak woodwax.

Faint, neutral and mushroomy, without the characteristic fruity apricot aroma of the real chanterelle. It's a supporting clue, not the main one: the real chanterelle's apricot scent is faint, so check the gills first.