Saprotrophic on rotting wood, wood-chip mulch, grassy woodland, roadside verges and parks, spring to autumn

Not recommended — widely reported as poisonous, though a few European guides list it as edible with a mildly spicy taste; treat as inedible

• ▸ Vivid blue-green, glutinous cap 2–8 cm across, sprinkled with white veil remnants that sit as flecks near the margin
• ▸ The colour fades or washes off with rain and age, turning yellow-ochre — old caps lose the blue-green entirely
• ▸ White stem of even thickness with a fragile dark ring; below the ring fine white scales
• ▸ Gills white at first, then clay-brown, often with a paler edge; spore print brownish-purple

Told apart from lookalikes by the slimy blue-green cap with white flecks combined with the dark ring on the white stem. Reported poisonous in many guidebooks, while a few European sources call it edible — with the toxic constituents undescribed and the effects unclear, it is not worth collecting. Wood-chip mulch in gardens and parks is its favourite substrate.