| FAIRYRING | Short name of a mushroom whose Latin epithet, Marasmius oreades, refers to mountain nymphs; or, a circle formed by a number of said champignons, but popularly attributed to imagined folkish dancing pi |
| CHAMPIGNON | Small edible mushroom, especially Agaricus bisporus or Marasmius oreades; from French (10) |
| DRYADS | From "oak", name for nymphs or spirits who delight in said quercus or in woods generally; or, forest-trees (6) |
| OREAD | Mountain nymph (or the start of an ode to literacy?) |
| NAIAD | Ancient Greek water nymph, or a moon of Neptune (5) |
| TWITE | Name, thought imitative of its note, for a brown linnet-like bird with a pale-pinkish rump, whose Latin epithet, Linaria flavirostris, means yellow-billed linen weaver (5) |
| VERDIN | From French for "yellowhammer", a North American titmouse-like penduline bird whose Latin epithet, Auriparus flaviceps, means "yellow-headed golden chickadee" (6) |
| AMANITA | Psychedelic mushroom whose color and role in Nordic shamanic rituals is believed by some to be the source of Santa Claus's red-and-white suit |
| EAR | Cloud ___ fungus (mushroom whose scientific name is Auricularia cornea) |
| SHIITAKE | Lentinula edodes, mushroom whose cultivation was first recorded during the Song dynasty (8) |
| NAP | Short name of a card game said to commemorate a French emperor; a tipster's racing certainty; an Australian bedroll; the surface of cloth, raised and cut smooth; or, a doze or a snooze (3) |
| CIRCE | Mythical sorceress whose name is referred to in the Latin epithet of enchanter's nightshade, for it was thought by botanists to be used by the aforesaid spellbinder to bewitch Odysseus's companions (5 |
| RILL | Beer infused with ground ivy; a brook; a female ferret; a lamella of a mushroom; or, a wooded glen (4) |
| CHAMONIX | Common or short name of a ski resort at the foot of Mont Blanc, site of the first Winter Olympics (8 |
| BATTLEDORE | Short name of a game played with a shuttlecock and rackets that was a forerunner of badminton (10) |
| UMBO | Central boss of a shield; or, the protuberance on the cap of a mushroom or toadstool (4) |
| KIWI | New Zealand's national bird; or, the short name of a berry also known as a Chinese gooseberry (4) |
| DEVILSBIT | Species of scabious with lilac-blue or violet pincushion-like flowers and roots imagined to have been begnawed by "Old Scratch", hence its name in question and Latin epithet Succisa pratensis, "cut fr |
| PILEUS | A word for a brimless Roman felt hat or liberty cap originally, later for the cap of a mushroom (6) |
| MERMAID | A mythical siren, water nymph or literal "sea woman", in the form of a beautiful undine with a fish's tail (7) |
