Cortinarius caperatus, also known as Gypsy Mushroom, is egg-shaped on emerging and its cap becomes convex to umbonate with age. It is yellow-brown with a wrinkled surface and remnants of the white to lilac veil in the center. The smooth stem has a narrow, sheathing ring, also known as a partial veil, which is a key identifying feature of the mushroom. The fruit bodies appear in autumn in coniferous and beech woods as well as heathlands in late summer and autumn.

Cap yellow-brown to brownish-ochre and covered with whitish fibres, especially over the centre. The surface has a wrinkled and furrowed texture. It may have a lilac tinge when young. Initially convex before expanding and flattening with a boss (umbo) in the centre. Gills pallid buff or clay, adnate, crowded. The gills are covered by a white partial veil when young. Stem slightly swollen at the base, and is whitish with a thick whitish ring at the midsection, which initially is attached to the cap. Spore print rusty brown to ochre brown.

Microscopic Features: The spores have an ellipsoidal shape, with a size of 10-15 x 7-10µm and a moderately verrucose surface.

Cortinarius caperatus on the www.first-nature.com web site.
Cortinarius caperatus on the MushroomExpert.Com web site.