Scarlet waxcap or Crimson waxcap

The cap is 2-5 cm, hemispherical to conical at first, then convex-flattened with a low umbo. The colour is bright red, coral or cinnabar red — the key feature. With age the margin may turn yellow or orange. The surface is moist and waxy, slightly slimy in wet weather.

The cap is 3 to 10 cm across, occasionally 15 cm. It's bell-shaped or conically domed at first, then convex or broadly umbonate and finally flattened, with an irregular edge that becomes wavy in old caps.

It's a dark blood red, often with a narrow yellowish rim. The surface is smooth and greasy or slimy when wet; young caps sometimes have a whitish bloom. As it ages, the cap fades in patches, usually from the centre, to yellowish buff.

The gills are widely spaced, thick and waxy, attached or slightly decurrent, and red, from coral to yellowish red. The spore print is white.

The gills are thick, waxy and fairly widely spaced, narrowly attached or almost free, and often cross-veined near the cap. They're yellow, orange or reddish.

The spore print is white.

The stem is 3-7 cm tall and 0.3-0.8 cm thick, slender, cylindrical and hollow. It's red to orange-red, paler and yellowish toward the base, with a dry, smooth surface and no ring.

The stem is 5 to 12 cm tall and 1 to 2 cm thick, stout, dry, coarsely fibrous and streaked lengthways. It's yellow flushed red at the top, orange lower down and white at the base. There's no ring.

The fibrous, streaky stem is the best way to tell it from the scarlet waxcap, whose stem is smooth.

The flesh is thin, brittle and reddish to yellowish, and doesn't change colour when cut. No culinary value.

The flesh is waxy and fairly firm, and doesn't change colour or blacken when cut.

No distinctive smell, or faintly mushroomy. Mild taste, nothing special.

The smell is indistinct.