The Bitter Waxcap can be found in grasslands and wooded areas summer through fall. The featured specimen was found growing a few inches in the entrances of small holes presumably dug by small animals. It can be found in eastern North America and Europe.

September 28th, 2023 Field Notes - Indian Cave State Park

habitat: Terrestrial (on soil)

growth habit: Gregarious (growing as a group)

Cap: shape: parabolic (half-egg) to convex (evenly rounded); texture: smooth to zonate to rugulose (with fine wrinkles) to hygrophanous (dark when wet; paler when dry); surface moisture texture: moist, lubricous, greasy; margin shape: straight; margin: entire, even, regular to crenate (scalloped)

Gills: attachment: decurrent to uncinate (with decurrent tooth); thickness: thick; spacing: subdistant; edges: even (entire) to marginate (different color) [1]; misc features: waxy (feeling like soft wax) to unequal (with short gills)

Stem: location: central; shape: terete (round) to flexuous to compressed (flattened); surface (same as cap plus): smooth to uneven (bumpy) [2]; texture: rigid to breaking with a snap to fragile to fibrous

[1] White margin

[2] Shiny, yellow to red

Found fruiting and small holes in the ground. Mixed o/h edge.