Garden Fungi – Laccaria sp.

Grows in ?.

Although very common, Laccaria species can be tricky to identify because they can change colour – hence their common name “The Deceiver”. Relatively small fungi, growing in troops and with flesh-pink gills usually turn out to be in this genus. The secret that makes them Laccarias, is their round spores with spikes on them.

Fruit-body: Orange to reddish-brown colour fading with age or rain; juvenile shape is convex, aging to plane seldom upturned; diameter to 40 mm. The gills are generally pink to flesh colour and slightly paler than the cap, fading with age.

Stem: Reddish-brown, sometimes twisted, white or off-white basal mycelium. No ring.

Spore print: White.

Smell: None.

Habit: Can be solitary, but usually in groups in grass or on forest edges.

Notes: Extremely common in native gardens, lawns and leaf litter.