This is Psathyrella piluliformis, or Common Stump BrittleStem.
These species are once again quite difficult to narrow down to species level, and are often drab coloured, common and therefore deemed uninteresting.
You can see from my second photo here, that these particular fruiting bodies are two-tone in colour. This is because of their HYGROPHANOUS nature (click to explore the meaning of that word in Wikipedia).
The Common Stump Brittlestem can often be found where there are no other fungi present in the area, and I'm told you can eat them. Not that you'd want to. They don't taste good at all, very bitter in fact, and although they wouldn't kill you - you'd probably not eat them again...
NB. 27/10/07 After more research on my new hobby! I think the identification given to me by WAB MAY be wrong. I have a sneaky suspicion this MAY actually be "SHEATHED WOODTUFT", not Common Stump Brittlestem. I'll pop a photo back on WAB and give a multiple choice option....
Until then, the title of this post is deliberately ambiguous...
OK. WAB have come up trumps again. These two species ARE very similar and are both hygrophanous in nature. The difference is in their stems. Common Stump Brittlestem (which mine is) has a delicate white stem with no ring or sheath, whereas Sheathed Woodtuft has a browner stem with a ring or sheath.
So. Common Stump Britlestem it is then. Easy.
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