I am looking for help with ID for this tiny orange mushroom. It was growing in the Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) mesic forest. It is about 2-3 cm high. Another similar species is lemon yellow. The same size. The same forest. Location: near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Soil parent material - dolomite-sandstone bedrock is close to the surface.
Hi Sepo thanks for posting, You have a couple of lovely little Waxy Caps there, mushrooms in the genus Hygrocybe. Overall waxy appearance, usually brightly coloured and not too big. Determining which species takes more time, and not just because these are not from my region. I'll see what I can dig up and write back in.... but hopefully someone else in the forum will chime in also. This lifestyle of this genus is under speculation, as in - Are they saprobic or are they mycorrhizal or are they engaging in a combination of things? Typically they have been considered saprobes. I mention this because the specific tree/habitat association is likely to be helpful but perhaps in an association sense rather than a mycorrhizal relationship. And because I love it when fungi turn out to be doing unexpected things :-). cheers, frog
Thank you very much, Frog! Yes, it does look like pictures of Hygrocybe acutoconica that I can see on Internet. Both the specimens on my pictures were growing in ruderal situations in the parks, so I could easily see them as saprobes. This is of course is only a superficial view. Today I found another one, of red color. It was growing in rich Sugar Maple mesic forest on undisturbed leaf litter of last year. I attach a picture of it.
