How to identify Winter Navel

To correctly identify Winter Navel (Omphalina ericetorum), check each of these features in order. Misidentification is the most common cause of mushroom poisoning, so cross-reference multiple sources.

Step-by-step identification

1. 1

   Cap

   Shape, color, surface texture, and diameter.

   1-3 cm in diameter, initially convex, becoming plano-depressed to deeply umbilicate (navel-like) with age. The margin is often incurved when young, becoming wavy or lobed. Color ranges from greyish-brown, yellowish-brown, to olive-brown, often paler towards the margin. The surface is smooth, moist, and somewhat translucent-striate when wet, drying to a dull, opaque finish.

2. 2

   Gills

   Attachment to stem, color, and spacing.

   Decurrent, moderately broad, distant to subdistant, often forked near the stem. Color is whitish to pale grey or yellowish-grey. They are typically thickish.

3. 3

   Stem

   Length, shape, surface, and any ring.

   1-3 cm long and 1-3 mm thick, central, cylindrical, often tapering slightly towards the base. Color is similar to the cap, sometimes paler, often darker towards the base. The surface is smooth or finely pruinose (powdery) at the apex, becoming glabrous (smooth) below. It is typically hollow or stuffed.

4. 4

   Flesh

   Color, texture, and bruising reaction.

   Thin, fragile, concolorous with the cap or slightly paler.

5. 5

   Fruiting body

   Overall growth pattern.

   Small, omphalinoid (navel-like) agaric, typically greyish-brown to yellowish-brown, with decurrent gills.

6. 6

   Habitat

   Where it grows and on what substrate.

   Terrestrial, growing solitarily or in small groups on acidic, nutrient-poor soils, often among mosses (especially Sphagnum) or lichens in heathlands, peat bogs, moorlands, and coniferous forests. It is saprobic, but some species in the broader Omphalina complex are now known to be lichenized or associated with bryophytes.

Key Facts

Cap surfaces

Smooth, moist, translucent-striate when wet, drying dull

Growth Form

Solitary or scattered

Spore Print

White

Body color

Greyish-brown, yellowish-brown, olive-brown

Odor

Indistinct

Flesh bruises

No significant bruising reaction

Height

1-3 cm

Cap Diameter

1-3 cm

Fruit body characteristics

• Gill attachment: Decurrent
• Stem shape: Cylindrical, sometimes tapering slightly towards the base
• Stem surface: Smooth or finely pruinose at apex, glabrous below
• Ring: Absent
• Stem cross-section: Hollow or stuffed

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