Milky Bonnet (Hemimycena lactea)

🏷️ Description
🔎 Identification
📜 Synonyms

🏷️ Description

The Milky Bonnet’s ethereal appearance and fragile structure set it apart. Look for tiny white caps with wavy edges, delicate white stems, and clusters in piney woodlands.

First described by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, this mushroom was later renamed by Rolf Singer in 1938. Its elegance and rarity make it a prized find for mycologists and mushroom enthusiasts alike.

⚠️ Edibility: While classified as inedible, some sources suggest it is technically edible but not worthwhile—best admired in nature rather than on your plate.

✨ Unique Features

Distinguished by its resinous cystidia, which can feel slightly sticky to the touch.
Often confused with 🧐 Hemimycena pseudolactea (smaller spores) or H. cucullata, but proper identification requires a microscope.

🔎 Identification

🧢 Cap: Small and delicate, the cap measures 0.3–2 cm, starting as conical or bell-shaped and maturing to a spread-out form with a subtle central hump. Its surface is milky white to pale cream, smooth when dry and slightly translucent-striated when moist. The edges often become wavy and irregular with age, giving it a whimsical appearance.

📏 Stem: Slender and fragile, the stem stands 1–5 cm tall and 0.5–3 mm wide, hollow and white with fine fibers concentrated at the base. It is cartilaginous and flexible, contributing to the mushroom’s delicate charm.

🥩 Flesh: The flesh is thin, chalk-white, and lacks any distinct odor or taste, though some describe it as subtly sweet.

🌿 Gills: The gills are adnate, closely spaced, and pure white, blending harmoniously with the cap. These narrow gills extend partway onto the stem and exhibit an elastic quality.

🔬 Microscopic Features:

Spores: Elongate-ellipsoid, smooth, measuring 9–11 x 3–4 µm, nonamyloid.
Cheilocystidia: Subcylindrical to lageniform with a slightly swollen apex, often resin-coated.
Pileipellis: Hyphae forming a smooth outer layer with small protuberances.
Spore Print: White.

🌲 Habitat & Ecology: This saprotrophic fungus thrives in coniferous forests, growing amongst fallen needles, moss, and debris. It favors moist, shaded environments and is typically found in summer through autumn, though it is considered rare.

🍂 Distribution: Native to Europe, the Milky Bonnet forms gregarious clusters on pine needles, twigs, and cones, blending seamlessly into its forest floor habitat.