A small, slimy Mycena with a yellow to yellow-green, sticky stem and a cap whose gelatinous skin can be peeled off. The typical variety grows on the ground in needle litter and moss, while var. lignicola, which is greener, grows on well-decayed conifer wood. Its mycelium is bioluminescent.
Sources disagree: Wikipedia calls it edible but of little culinary interest, while other guides do not recommend it. It is too small and slimy to be worth collecting, and small yellow and brown mushrooms are easily misidentified. Not recommended.
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Habitat
Saprobic. Var. epipterygia: scattered to gregarious on the ground in conifer and hardwood forests, among needle litter, grass and moss, and on heath and acidic grassland. Var. lignicola: gregarious on barkless, often mossy, well-decayed conifer wood. Mostly late summer and fall.
Distribution
Common in western Europe. In North America it is reported from the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere; MushroomExpert.com describes var. lignicola as apparently fairly widely distributed in North America.
Characteristics
Cap: 1-2 cm (var. lignicola to about 1.5 cm), egg-shaped to bell-shaped or convex, sticky and striate, yellowish brown to gray-brown (var. lignicola bright greenish yellow, fading to dull yellow); cuticle gelatinous and peelable. Gills: attached, white to pale yellowish. Stem: 4-9 cm long, 1-2 mm thick, equal, slimy-sticky, yellowish to yellow-green. Spore print: white to very pale buff. Spores: 8-10 x 4-5.5 um, amyloid (Wikipedia); var. lignicola 7-13 x 5-8 um, basidia mostly 2-spored (MushroomExpert.com). Mycelium bioluminescent.
