It was formerly known as Hygrocybe psittacina, but a molecular phylogenetics study found it to belong in the genus Gliophorus.

[2] The parrot toadstool is a small mushroom, with a convex to umbonate cap up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) in diameter, which is green when young and later yellowish or even pinkish tinged.

[4][5] Gliophorus psittacinus is widely distributed in grasslands in western Europe, United Kingdom, Iceland, Greenland, the Americas, South Africa, Japan, being found in late summer and autumn.

Early Australian records of this form have been found to be the similar green toadstools Gliophorus graminicolor or G. viridis on reexamination.

[6] Gliophorus psittacinus is generally considered edible, but not worthwhile due to its small size and sliminess.