Amethyst Deceiver

Description:

Laccaria amethystina, commonly known as the Amethyst Deceiver is a small brightly colored, edible mushroom, that grows in deciduous as well as coniferous forests. Because its bright amethyst coloration fades with age and weathering, it becomes difficult to identify, hence the common name ‘Deceiver’. This common name is shared with its close relation Laccaria laccata that also fades and weathers. It is found mainly in Northern temperate zones, though it is reported to occur in tropical Central and South America as well. Recently, some of the other species in the genus have been given the common name of "deceiver".

Habitat:

L. amethystina is a common species in most temperate zones of Europe, Asia, Central, South, and eastern North America. It grows solitary to scattered with a variety of deciduous and coniferous trees, with which it is mycorrhizally associated, though it most commonly occurs with trees in the Fagales.[2] It appears in late summer to early winter, and often with beech;[1] in Central and South America, it more commonly grows in association with oak.[3] Research has shown that L. amethystina is a so-called "ammonia fungus", an ecological classification referring to those fungi that grow abundantly on soil after the addition of ammonia, or other nitrogen-containing material;[4] the congeneric species Laccaria bicolor is also an ammonia fungus.

Notes:

There are several purplish species in North America that were formally labeled as L. amethystina before Gregory M. Mueller described them as distinct species in 1984.[5] Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis is found in western North America, where L. amethystina does not occur. It is a very common mushroom in its geographical range.[citation needed] Besides geographical difference, L. amethysteo-occidentalis differs from L. amethystina in several ways: ecologically, the former occurs only in association with conifers, while the latter occurs mainly with hardwoods of the order Fagales. The sporocarp of L. amethysteo-occidentalis is on average larger than that of L. amethystina, and has a deeper purple coloration, that fades to vinaceous rather than brownish shades. The spores are also quite distinct between the two, in that the spores of L. amethysteo-occidentalis are not as strongly globose as those of L. amethystina, being generally of a subglobose or even broadly ellipsoid shape, and additionally having much shorter spines than the spores of L. amethystina.