Small to medium agaric, growing on the ground or bryophytes, with a white spore print. Pileus white, pale, yellow, orange, brown or purple, rarely grey, dry or moist, viscid or rarely glutinous. Lamellae subdecurrent, or decurrent, rarely adnate. Stipe central. Partial veil remnants absent. Spores hyaline, non-amyloid, smooth; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia absent. Lamellar trama interwoven, rarely regular. Pileipellis a cutis, rarely a trichoderm. Clamp connections present, rarely absent.

Similar in macroscopic appearance to other species of Hygrocybe and to Humidicutis, differing in the interwoven lamellar trama, and often white or brown colours (although the pileus can be bright yellow, orange or purple). Separated from Camarophyllopsis by the pileipellis that is a cutis or trichoderm, rather than a hymeniderm or epithelium. Clitocybe has thinner lamellae, and always has clamp connections. In Cantharellus, colours are often bright orange or red, clamp connections are always present and the lamellae can be rather shallow.

Hygrocybe subgenus Cuphophyllus Donk, Beih. Nova Hedwigia 5: 45 (1962).

Twelve species: Hygrocybe aurantiopallens, H. austropratensis, H. brunnea, H. cheelii (= Cantharellus lilacinus), H. griseoramosa, H. pratensis, H. reesiae, H. rodwayi, H. schistophila, H. unispora, H. virginea and H. watagensis.

The other two subgenera of Hygrocybe (subgenera Hygrocybe and Pseudohygrocybe) are keyed out separately.

W.A., S.A., Qld, N.S.W., Vic. and Tas. (and probably also N.T.).

In native forests.

On the ground.

Saprotrophic.

Fuhrer, B. (2005), A Field Guide to Australian Fungi. Bloomings Books, Hawthorn. [Description and Illustration of H. austropratensis, H. cheelii, H. rodwayi and H. virginea]

Fuhrer, B. & Robinson, R. (1992), Rainforest Fungi of Tasmania and South-east Australia. CSIRO Press, East Melbourne. [Illustration of H. aurantiopallens and H. rodwayi (both as Camarophyllus) and H. virginea (as Camarophyllus niveus)]

Grey, P. & Grey, E. (2005), Fungi Down Under. Fungimap, South Yarra. [Description, Illustration and Map for H. cheelii]

Grgurinovic, C.A. (1997a), Larger Fungi of South Australia. The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium and The Flora and Fauna of South Australia Handbooks Committee, Adelaide. [Description and Microcharacters of H. brunnea and H. cheelii (as Camarophyllus lilacinus) and Illustration of H. brunnea]

Horak, E. (1990), Monograph of the New Zealand Hygrophoraceae (Agaricales), New Zealand J. Bot. 28: 255–309. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of H. aurantiopallens, and Key and other information for the eight New Zealand species (all as Camarophyllus)]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of H. cheelii]

Young, A.M. (1999b), A field key to the Hygrophoraceae of south-eastern Australia, Australas. Mycol. 18: 63–69. [Field Key to known species]

Young, A.M. (1999a), The Hygrocybeae (Fungi, Basidiomycota, Agaricales, Hygrophoraceae) of the Lane Cove Bushland Park, New South Wales, Austrobaileya 5: 535–564. [Description and Microcharacters of H. aurantiopallens, H. austropratensis, H. cheelii, H. reesiae and H. virginea, and B&W Illustration of H. austropratensis and H. cheelii]

Young, A.M. (2000c), Additions to the Hygrocybeae (Fungi, Hygrophoraceae) of Victoria. I, Muelleria 14: 51–64. [B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of H. virginea, and discussion of Victorian collections of H. austropratensis, H. cheelii and H. rodwayi]

Young, A.M. (2005a), Fungi of Australia: Hygrophoraceae, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra & CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. [Description and Microcharacters of all Australian species, along with B&W Illustration of all but H. brunnea and Illustration of nine of the twelve, and a Key]

Young, A.M. (2005b), A Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. [Description and Illustration of H.cheelii and Description and B&W Illustration of H. virginea]

Young, A.M. & Mills, A.K. (2002), The Hygrophoraceae of Tasmania, Muelleria 16: 3–28. [Discussion of Tasmanian collections of H. aurantiopallens, H. cheelii, H. reesiae and H. rodwayi]

Young, A.M. & Wood, A.E. (1997), Studies on the Hygrophoraceae (Fungi, Homobasidiomycetes, Agaricales) of Australia, Austral. Syst. Bot. 10: 911–1030 [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of H. aurantiopallens, H. reesiae, H. rodwayi, H. unispora, H. virginea and H. watagensis]

Young, A.M., Kearney, R. & Kearney, E. (2001), Additions to the Hygrophoraceae of Lane Cove Bushland Park, Australas. Mycol. 20: 79–86. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of H. griseoramosa]

Young, A.M., Bougher, N.L. & Robinson, R.M. (2000), Hygrophoraceae of Western Australia II. Further taxa, Australas. Mycol. 19: 41–48. [Description, Illustration and Microcharacters of H. pratensis]