Hygrocybe conica: The Witch's Hat

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Hygrocybe . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Unlike most of the red to orange waxy caps in North America, the witch's hat is relatively easy to identify: virtually all parts of the mushroom bruise and discolor strongly black. In fact, one sometimes finds older specimens that have discolored so much that they appear almost completely black. C. Ribet's photoseries, at the bottom of this page, represents the witch's hat in its various stages of development.

Hygrocybe conica is the most common and widely distributed species in the cluster of species that forms the witch's hat complex. Hygrocybe singeri is similar, but has a slimy stem. Other members of the cluster include Hygrocybe nigrescens, which is inconsistently described but may differ in minor morphological features. Hygrocybe cuspidata blackens only at the stem base, if at all. I have not found the difference between scarlet and orange versions to be indicative of anything; many of my collections contain mushrooms demonstrating both colors in the fresh condition (before fading).

The witch's cap, and the question of its edibility, have been at the center of considerable modern legend and confusion. A quick trip through the major field guides currently in print will reveal that some authors claim it is edible, while others give it a "not recommended" label, or simply call it "poisonous." The source of the confusion appears to be a report that four people in China died from eating the mushroom. David Arora (1986) says the witch's cap "was once considered poisonous, perhaps due to its blackening qualities, but also because four deaths in China were (mistakenly?) attributed to it. Now it's generally regarded as harmless" (117). Alexander H. Smith, in his important work, Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats, was already noting the edible-poisonous discrepancy in 1949:

Konrad & Maublanc state that they tried [Hygrocybe conica] and found it to be edible when cooked. Four deaths in China however, were attributed to poisoning from it. I have not tried it. More than likely several strains of the species exist, and though some are edible some may not be. It should be regarded as dangerous. (294)

This places the report of four Chinese fatalities prior to 1949. The earliest reference I can find is in Louis Krieger (1936): "Hygrophorus conicus has been the cause of at least four deaths in China" (338). Earlier 20th-century texts in my library (including Kauffman, 1918; Cole, 1910; Marshall, 1902; and Atkinson, 1900) make no mention of the deaths, nor do they treat the witch's cap with suspicion. If we go back much beyond Atkinson, we are soon into territory where Peck believed that any mealy-tasting mushroom would be edible, or worse, where W. H. Gibson (1895), in a very popular mushroom book, advised that any gilled mushroom that was not an Amanita was edible.

So we are left with a suspicion that appears to be based on a report from China in the first decades of the last century. To the right is a photo taken in 1917 of Chinese children pumping water with a water wheel made of bamboo (from Sidney Gamble's China between Revolutions, 1992). I ask the reader to imagine for a moment that a report of four deaths from Hygrocybe conica coming out of preindustrial China involved the sort of medical and mycological rigor required to verify with precision the cause of the poisonings. What I find amazing is the long life of the legend; many current mushroom authors, apparently thinking of the Chinese report, are still suspicious of the witch's hat.

And the witch's hat continues to create controversy: "Larry Stickney, chef extrordinaire, meandering mainstay of the Mycological Society of San Franciso . . . says [Hygrocybe conica] 'elicited an odd sensation of lightheadedness and numbness' when he tried it" (Arora, 117). Here is a new tempest for the Hygrocybe conica teapot! In what is probably the most popular field guide on the market, Gary Lincoff (1981) says: "Although eaten by many people, this species is reported to have caused 4 deaths in China; some believe it is also hallucinogenic" (659).

The belief is strong enough that some of the various Web sites that sell spores and spawn kits for hallucinogenic mushrooms like Psilocybe cubensis (possessing only the spores or spawn is legal in most states) make mention of the witch's hat. Then again, many people in the crowd that pursues hallucinogenic mushrooms are, um, not very reliable for scientific information; some are not at all interested in learning anything about mushrooms, cruising through Web sites like this one or flipping hastily through field guides, then going out to pick little, nondescript mushrooms and eat them. People like this might be the source of the reports of hallucinogenic properties. First, because of some association with the common name "witch's cap" ("Hey, m-a-a-a-n, it's magical!"), and second, because some of the psilocybin mushrooms bruise and stain strongly dark blue (not black; blue)--a fact that could have been misread and mis-applied by some stoner who ate so many mushrooms that he had no idea which one it actually was that made the walls bleed.

The witch's cap, however, does not appear on J. W. Allen's 2000 list of the 186 known psychoactive mushrooms ("A Worldwide Geographical Distribution of the Neurotropic Fungi")--nor do any mushrooms closely related to it. As for Larry Stickney, the San Francisco chef who became lightheaded and numb eating the witch's cap, take a look at this photo of him worshiping a mushroom, posted at the Mycological Society of San Francisco's Web site. I'm only kidding, of course, and I have no reason to doubt his report. However, I do notice that edibility for Hygrocybe conica at MykoWeb (link below), a site closely affiliated with MSSF, is listed simply as "questionable," when Psilocybe cyanescens, for example, is listed as "hallucinogenic."

So, make your own decision on whether you want to eat Hygrocybe conica. I've done my best to expose what seems to me, probably, to be a circle of legends and half-baked (or totally baked, dude) mythology--but I'll be honest: I'm not going to try it. What if I'm wrong? And anyway, I'm half Chinese!

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic under hardwoods or conifers; growing alone or gregariously; spring through fall, winter in warmer climates; widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 2-7 cm; sharply to broadly conic, sometimes convex with a conic point; slimy when fresh, but soon dry or tacky; smooth or finely hairy in age; reddish to scarlet orange, often with olive to greenish tints; bruising and discoloring black.

Gills: Nearly free from the stem; close; whitish, becoming yellowish orange or olive yellow; bruising black.

Stem: 6-11 cm long; 5-10 mm thick; colored like the cap, white at the base; equal; moist but not slimy; fragile; splitting; often grooved lengthwise or twisted; hollow; bruising black.

Flesh: Colored like the cap; thin; blackening on exposure.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-12 x 5.5-6.5 µ; smooth; elliptical to irregular. Gill tissue parallel.

REFERENCES: (Schaeffer, 1774) Kummer, 1871. (Hesler & Smith, 1963; Bird & Grund, 1979; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Largent, 1985; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Horn, Kay & Abel, 1993; Evenson, 1997; Barron, 1999; Boertmann, 2000; Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 06019510, 06160207, 07220315, 07220316.

Hygrophorus conicus is a synonym.

Below: Hygrocybe conica in various stages of development; photoseries by C. Ribet. Click individual mushrooms for enlargements.

Further Online Information:

Hygrophorus conicus in Hesler & Smith (1963)
Hygrocybe conica at Tom Volk's Fungi
Hygrocybe conica at MykoWeb
Hygrocybe conica at Roger's Mushrooms
Hygrocybe conica at Fungi of Poland

Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2007, January). Hygrocybe conica: The witch's hat. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hygrocybe_conica.html

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