Pholiotina vexans

An uncommon species with an orange-brown cap which is bell-shaped or conical, drying paler, striated at the edge and sometimes slightly wrinkled. The elliptical spores are 10 microns or more long (up to 13.5 microns) and the gill edge has cheilocystidia with distinctly tapered necks. It is very similar to Pholiotina rugosa which has a more wrinkled cap and spores less than 10 microns long. It appears in spring on soil in woodlands and gardens. There are few records of this species in West Glamorgan. Pholiotina vexans and Pholiotina rugosa are also known as Conocybe vexans and Conocybe rugosa. Both species contain toxins with reports of the hallucinogenic compound psilocybin in Pholiotina vexans and the deadly poisonous alpha-amanitin in Pholiotina rugosa.