Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Mycenaceae
Genus: Mycena
Species: Mycena
Binominal name: Mycena parsonsii
Synonymy: Mycena parsonsiae, Galactopus parsonsii, Galactopus parsonsiae
Common name: Pink helmet fungus
Mycena parsonsii is a small saprophytic fungus, a member of the gilled mushrooms. It grows in clusters on dead wood of Kunzea ericoides, Leptospermum scoparium, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Metrosideros excelsa and other Metrosideros species in lowland podocarp dicotyledonous forest throughout New Zealand in autumn and early winter. It can also grow on the wood of introduced trees.
The pink stipe grows to a height of >4 cm. This Mycena species bleeds red-brown sap from the stipe when broken.
The velvety cap (>1 cm diameter) is bell-shaped. The caps are mostly a salmon coloured and the gills are a pale white/pink. The caps can be a reddish-brown.
Mycena parsonsii ( 5 mm cap) growing on a live Metrosideros robusta vine on the Te Henui Walkway, New Plymouth (May).
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
