A brownish-red Deceiver with a minutely scaly/scurfy cap surface. The gills are pinkish-lilac. The stipe is coarsely fibrous. The spores have short spines, and are not completely spherical.

It can be very similar to the common Deceiver, Laccaria laccata, which can also have a minutely scaly cap and fibrillose stipe, and to other Deceivers.

Identification can be difficult. It may need to be microscopically examined or verified by an expert from a specimen before submission to NatureSpot. You should also photograph the cap from side and top, and the gills underneath, ensuring that the full length of the stipe is clearly shown, and note habitat and substrate.

Most common in areas where the soil is acidic, in broadleaf and coniferous woodland and on heathland.

June to November.

All Laccaria species are ectomycorrhizal fungi, forming symbiotic relationships with forest trees or ericaceous plants.

Widely distributed across Britain.

occasional

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/laccaria-proxima.php