In grassy places. Banks' Peninsula, Waitaki, Dunedin, Maungaroa, Wellington (Mr. Travers).

Distribution.-Tasmania; N.Z. (Herb. Nos. 120, 610, 938, 1097). Common throughout the lowland forests of New Zealand.

Peridium scarlet, globose, depressed-globose or ovate, apex obtuse or rounded, base excavated, truncate or decurrent, 2-4 cm. high, up to 6 cm. wide, smooth, frequently somewhat lobed, glabrous, shining, often slightly viscid; retaining its colour when dried. Stipe bright yellow, slender, up to 10 cm. long, 3-10 mm. thick, equal, smooth or fibrillose, often polished, hollow; columella slightly expanded at the apex. Gleba ferruginous, cellular, cells polygonal or slightly elongate, up to 3 mm. long, numerous, dissepiments thin. Spores smooth, pallid ferruginous, elliptical or elliptic-ovate, bluntly pointed at one or both ends, 12-25 x 7-11 µ, (Tulasne, 12 x 5 µ; Massee 10-11 x 5 µ; Lloyd, about 12 x 6 µ).

Habitat.-Gregarious or solitary on decaying wood on the forest floor.

I have collected this species at Auckland, Hamilton, Cambridge, Rotorua, Te Aroha (Auckland Province) ; Weraroa, Mt. Waiopehu, York Bay and Botanical Gardens (Wellington Province) ; and have received collections from Peel Forest (from Dr. H. H. Allan), and Governors Bay (from Mr. J. F. Tapley), Canterbury Province; and Dun Mt., Nelson Province (from Mr. J. C. Neill). It is not confined to the forest, for several collections have been obtained from flower gardens, especially where these have been at one,time in forest. It is commonly stated that this species grows on the ground; but although I have collected hundreds of these plants, I have always found them to be attached to decaying wood.
The scarlet colour of the peridium separates this from any other species, but in glebal and spore characters it is closely allied to S. virescens and S. superbum.
The spore measurements I have given are much greater than those given by other writers. But with certain large forms found here, spores of a length of 25 µ are not uncommon. I believe that it would be inadvisable to separate these forms, for they are identical in all other respects. Furthermore, intermediate stages, in which the spores vary in size between the large and small spore forms, are not uncommon.
This species was named by Tulasne from material collected at Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, by Raoul, now preserved in the museum herbarium at Paris.