Fragile Brittlegill

We used to get small, red-capped toadstools underneath the dogwood tree in the front garden 
-- haven't seen them for an age, but we had them for about three years in a row, back before we had a proper camera with which to take their picture.  

We discovered, through searching our copy of Mushrooms, by Kent H. McKnight and Vera B. McKnight, that these were fragile brittlegill. Though the colour can vary from dark pink to strong yellowish-pink, dark greyish-purple, or dark to moderate red, ours were invariably moderate red. The caps, according to Mushrooms, are often touched with bits of greyish-olive or pale greyish-yellow. 

The odour also varies; it can be indistinct, unpleasant, or even apple-like. We never noticed an odour coming from ours. Maybe we didn't get close enough. 

Our brittlegills always seemed to pop out in the summer, though you can also see them in the autumn. We would see them scattered in the grass when we took the rubbish bin out to the roadside and back -- always in that same little patch of ground. Solitary brittlegill may be found, as well. They like soil or well-rotted wood in hardwood, coniferous, or mixed forests. Ours were in the grass, so they must have been enjoying the soil.

The stalk of the fragile brittlegill is white, cylindrical, dry to moist, and either smooth or with vertical wrinkles. Ours appeared smooth. We didn't take apart any of them, so we don't know what the stalks were like on the inside, but according to Mushrooms, they may be solid or contain cottony filaments. 

The gills are pale yellowish (though we didn't get a good look at ours), and the cap convex, sometimes with a small central hump at first. When wet, it will turn sticky. 

The image is from Google Images (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=643&q=raccoon&oq=raccoon&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.1423.2573.0.5313.7.4.0.3.3.0.69.194.4.4.0...0.0.0..1ac.1.17.img.8jZ6Wjg_tWY#hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=fragile+brittlegill+mushroom&oq=fragile+brittlegill+mushroom&gs_l=img.3...2758888.2768442.0.2768893.34.28.0.4.4.2.136.1215.26j1.27.0...0.0.0..1c.1.17.img.bMwxQPqyqvg&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48293060,d.eWU&fp=4bdfcf4ffb0aa612&biw=1024&bih=600&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=iRTrDeuwif0BVM%3A%3Bkk2Nm8k-eoetbM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwarehouse1.indicia.org.uk%252Fupload%252Fmed-p17b6728ervji12v41e2294taa824.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.naturespot.org.uk%252Ftaxonomy%252Fterm%252F19708%3B500%3B578). It may not actually be a fragile brittlegill, but it was the closest we found.