It grows on stumps, logs and roots, in the ground. It grows almost the year round. I have gathered it to eat in February. Plate XV gives a very correct notion of the plant. It is most plentiful in September, October and November, yet found throughout the winter months.
Mycena. Fr.
Mycena is from a Greek word, meaning a fungus. The plants of this genus are small and rather fragile.
Pileus more or less membranaceous, generally striate, with the margin almost straight, and at first pressed to the stem, never involute, expanded, campanulate, and generally umbonate.
The stem is externally cartilaginous, hollow, not stuffed when young, confluent with the cap. Gills never decurrent, though some species have a broad sinus near the stem.
Most species are small and inodorous, but some which have a strong alkaline odor are probably not good. Some are known to be edible.
A few species exude a colored or watery juice when bruised. The Mycena resembles the Collybia, but never has the incurved margin of the latter. The plants are usually smaller, and the caps are more or less conical.
This genus might be mistaken for Omphalia, in which the gills are but slightly decurrent, but in Omphalia the cap is umbilicate while in Mycena it is umbonate.
Their being so small makes the determination of species somewhat difficult. Some have characteristic odors which greatly assist in establishing their identity.