Chicken Lips: Leotia viscosa

Pileus
Cap 1.5-3.0 cm broad, hemispheric to convex, the disc occasionally depressed; margin inrolled, wavy, sometimes lobed; surface viscid when moist, more or less glabrous, dull olive-green; lower surface pallid; flesh gelatinous.

Stipe
Stipe 2.5-6.0 cm long, 0.5-1.0 cm thick, hollow or gelatinous at the core, equal to narrowed at the apex; surface smooth, pallid, buff, to yellowish, dotted with greenish granules.

Spores
Spores 18-25 x 4-6.5 µm, slightly fusiform, curved in profile, the ends rounded, septate at maturity.

Habitat
Solitary to gregarious in leaf litter, soil, or on rotten wood; fruiting from late winter to spring.

Edibility
Slimy and gelatinous; not worth trying.

Comments
Leotia viscosa is characterized by a greenish, viscid cap with a pallid undersurface and a pale yellowish stipe dotted with green granules, especially near the apex. Less common in our area but very similar is Leotia lubrica. It is distinguished by a yellowish rather than green cap.