Cucumber Cap Macrocystidia cucumis (Pers.: Fr.) Joss. Cucumber Cap.
Cap 0.8-5cm, conical to bell-shaped, dry and smooth, expanding with age, dark, blackish-brown to purplish-brown when young and moist, becoming paler, reddish-brown as it ages and dries, often with much paler margin. Stem 20-60 x 1-3mm, slender, cylindrical or slightly flattened, pale cream above, darker orange-brown to blackish at base, surface usually distinctly velvety. Flesh thin, pale brown. Smell very strong, a mixture of raw fish and cucumber. Taste very unpleasant, rancid, or with cod-liver oil component. Spore print dull pinkish brown. Spores 7.5-10x3.5-5.0µ, smooth, narrowly ellipsoid. Cystidia on edge of gill large, swollen with long, narrow point. Habitat in woodlands and gardens in humus-rich, nitrogen-rich places, now becoming very common on woodchip mulches in gardens. Season early summer to late autumn. Frequent to common. Not Edible. Distribution Europe. Thanks to Geoffrey Kibby for this picture and text.