Hygrocybe laeta

Synonyms
Hygrophorus laetus

Key to Gilled Mushrooms Key

This is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.

Agaricales Order

Fruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)

White Spored Suborder

Spore print "light-colored": white or buff, sometimes tinged with pink or tan. Greenish and (except for the Russulales) yellow spore prints also go here
Stalk fibrous, not fracturing like a piece of chalk

Hygrophoraceae Family

Gills (at least) with a distinct waxy or silky feel, due to unusually long basidia
No annulus, armilla or volva
Cap often slimy
They tend to grow in cold areas, and sometimes fruit at times when it's too cold for other mushrooms
Several have an insulating slimy universal veil. This veil leaves the cap and the stalk slimy, except for the upper stalk where the gills covered it when the mushroom was a button.

Hygrocybe Genus

Cap up to 2" across, usually less than 1" across; almost always slimy; often brightly colored
Often in moss
Stem often fragile and hollow

Other Colored Hygrocybe Section

Fruiting body with no orange, red, or yellow coloration (pink, whitish and buff ones go here)

Hygrocybe laeta

Here are the characters that distinguish this species from the others in its group. For its more general characters, see higher up on the page.
If there's just a few words or a microscopic feature here, a more thorough description can be found above.

Diagnosis

Cap up to 1 1/2" across; conical at first, becoming convex; color variable: shell pink, peach, orange, olive orange, violet grey, vinaceous, yellow or cream
Gills often decurrent
Stem slimy
In sphagnum bogs or in woods among mosses

Microscropic Characters

Spores 5-10 x 3-6 µm

Comments

This species can be distinguished from Hygrocybe psittacina in that it is never deep "parrot" green when young, and its gills are usually decurrent

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Hygrocybe laeta

Fruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)

Spore print "light-colored": white or buff, sometimes tinged with pink or tan. Greenish and (except for the Russulales) yellow spore prints also go here Stalk fibrous, not fracturing like a piece of chalk

Cap up to 2" across, usually less than 1" across; almost always slimy; often brightly colored Often in moss Stem often fragile and hollow

Fruiting body with no orange, red, or yellow coloration (pink, whitish and buff ones go here)

Hygrocybe laeta

Diagnosis

Microscropic Characters

Comments

Spore print "light-colored": white or buff, sometimes tinged with pink or tan. Greenish and (except for the Russulales) yellow spore prints also go here
Stalk fibrous, not fracturing like a piece of chalk

Cap up to 2" across, usually less than 1" across; almost always slimy; often brightly colored
Often in moss
Stem often fragile and hollow