Hygrophorus cossus    (Sowerby) Fr. 

common name(s) : Goat Moth Woodwax, Stinking Wax Cap 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Hygrophoraceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Tricholomatales [sub-genus:Hygrophorus section:Hygrophorus sub-section:Eburnei]  

synonyms: Limacium eburneum-cossus 

edibility : inedible

photo gallery of Hygrophorus cossus
photo gallery of Hygrophorus cossus potential confusions with Hygrophorus cossus toxicity of Hygrophorus cossus genus Hygrophorus  

The cap is white then yellowing to orange-red brown. The cap surface is smooth, viscid or sticky.

The stem is white, without ring.

The flesh is white, unchanging; its taste is mild or of Jerusalem artichoke; the odour is of goat moth, or artichoke being cooked; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are white, turning yellow, decurrent, distant (nb of gills per 90° ~ 14 ). The spore print is white. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, on a rather calcareous soil, with beech.

The fruiting period takes place from August to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 5 cm (between 2 and 8 cm)
  height of stem approximately 7 cm (between 4 and 10 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 9 mm (between 5 and 20 mm)

Chemical tests : Stem flesh becomes chrome-yellow when in contact with potash.

Distinctive features : odour of cooked shrimps; gills easily separated from the cap; cap not reacting to potash, unlike the base of stem

Hygrophorus cossus is quite rare and scattered in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Hygrophorus cossus in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Hygrophorus cossus in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18