Cucumber Cap

Macrocystidia cucumis

Meadows, shores, ditch sides, forests, among grasses. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies small. Cap 2-5 cm across, when young conical, later bell-shaped, eventually convex-flattened, with an umbo, hygrophanous, matt, chestnut, dark brown, fading, the margins paler, barely grooved. Gills crowded, narrow, greyish, later pinkish-yellowish, adnate. Stem 3-7x0.3-0.7 cm, straight, tapering towards the base, slightly velvety, brownish-black, paler near the gills. Flesh thin, tough, not bitter, with a smell of cucumber or fish. Cystidia large, pointed, 55-90x15-20 pm. Characteristic features: cap chestnut, stem velvety, black in colour, with a strong smell of cucumber. Grows singly or in small groups, on the ground, among grasses.