These are some images captured today while on a mushroom walk in the woods. It's interesting that this particular variety of fungi is the first I've ever spotted while mushroom hunting in the past few years.
That was growing in the soggy, dark dirt. Bright red basidiocarps (fruit bodies) have a surface of the cap that is sticky and highly slippery. The gills are bright red and have yellow-circle-shaped sides.
The traits lead me to believe that this red waxcap mushroom is a member of the genus Hygrocybe , precisely the Hygrocybe erythrocala species.
My observations show that the fungus often grows alone in dark, moist places, but some do grow next to one another, but not in significant numbers.
That is what I spotted during today's mushroom walk. This is also my contribution to #FungiFriday. Cheers!
All of the images here are my own work, taken with Xiaomi POCO NFC smartphone and an assembled external macro lens.
