Bertrandia astatogala
Found in the Waitakeri Ranges July 2004
According to Egon Horak, Bertrandia is yellow/orange at first but turns black with age or damage. The pileus (cap) is conical, always with a pointed apex, but becoming conico-campanulate or conico-convex with age and getting radial splits at the edge.
Well - that all fits in with this being a mature specimen doesn't it?
It lives in the soil of broadleaved or conifer forests in Africa, New Zealand and Madagascar.
Alternative name: Hygrocybe astatogala (R.Heim) Heinem.
(Clive Shirley found his in a plant pot and describes two other un-named species, with colour variatioin and different spore shapes).
