Appearance
Basidiocarps are agaricoid, up to 150 mm tall, the cap convex at first, becoming flat, umbonate, or slightly depressed when expanded, up to 125 mm across. The cap surface is smooth and dry, pale salmon to orange-buff. The lamellae are waxy, pale cap-coloured, and decurrent . The stipe is smooth, cylindrical or tapering to the base, and cream to pale cap-coloured. The spore print is white, the spores smooth, inamyloid, ellipsoid, about 5.5 to 6.5 by 4.0 to 5.0 μm.
Naming
''Hygrocybe berkeleyi'' is very similar, but fruit bodies are white . ''Hygrophorus nemoreus'' is also similar, but is an ectomycorrhizal species, growing in woodland with oaks, and has a distinctly mealy smell.
Distribution
The meadow waxcap has a widespread distribution, mainly occurring in temperate zones. It has been recorded in Europe, North Africa, North and South America, northern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Like other waxcaps, it grows in old, unimproved, short-sward grassland in Europe, but in woodland elsewhere. Recent research suggests waxcaps are neither mycorrhizal nor saprotrophic but may be associated with mosses.
Status
In Europe, ''Cuphophyllus pratensis'' is typical of waxcap grasslands, a declining habitat due to changing agricultural practices. Though the species is one of the commoner members of the genus, it nonetheless appears on the official or provisional national red lists of threatened fungi in a few European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany , and Poland.
Habitat
The meadow waxcap has a widespread distribution, mainly occurring in temperate zones. It has been recorded in Europe, North Africa, North and South America, northern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Like other waxcaps, it grows in old, unimproved, short-sward grassland in Europe, but in woodland elsewhere. Recent research suggests waxcaps are neither mycorrhizal nor saprotrophic but may be associated with mosses.References:
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