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Project Noah Nature School
Cortinarius sp.
Very small, vibrantly colored purple mushroom. The head of the mushroom was no larger than the size of a marble. I would not have seen it if I did not go back to take a picture of a much less amazing mushroom!
Moist woodlands.
Douglas Mountain, towards beginning of trail.
Spotted on Aug 10, 2012
Submitted on Aug 16, 2012
34 Comments (1–25)
Thanks for the information, Randy!
I don't think any of the toxic Cortinarius species are purple.
Thank you Joshua! The genus is comprised of inedible and edible species, so many people avoid eating mushrooms in this genus altogether, since it is hard to distinguish species.
Gorgeous. Very nice congrats! but I have to say, that is one messed up name for the mushroom if it's not edible.
Thank you, Jemma!
wow. J!
Many thanks, Pouihi!
Thank you very much for your kind words, António!
How can i missed this one,gorgeous colours,great cache J,congrats
Thanks Mark! I looked into that one, but wasn't truly sure whether or not it was, as the C. nuda has a blue stem, and purple top, and this was all purple. I'll look into it some more!
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/119...
Hi J... any chance this is Clitocybe nuda ? 'Wood blewit'
Thanks rat. I might go looking the spore way. Thanks for the information!
There's a chance you'd get diarrhea. I don't want to say an allergic reaction couldn't cause you to die just in case you are the one guy in the USA who is severely allergic to this mushroom... I guess there's a slim chance of that. To look at the spores you'd need to use a microscope at about x400 magnification. To identify the mushroom by looking at the spores you'd need a 'reticle' on the microscope to measure the spore size.
Thanks, rat! I'm not sure if I'd lick one of these...maybe if I see one again! I guess licking a mushroom never killed anyone, right? ;) I might look at the spores first, though I'm not really sure how to go about that! Thanks again for the help!
If the slime is bitter then you can rule out C. iodes, it still might be another purple mushroom species but at least you will have ruled one of them out; mushroomexpert says (about C. iodeoides) 'the slime on its cap tastes bitter, rather than mild'
I should probably also mention mushroomexpert also says this: 'I don't recommend licking the slime on unknown mushrooms; the two species are more reliably separated on the basis of their differing spore sizes.'
Personally I'd lick the mushroom and then spit to make sure it's all out of my mouth and maybe even use some mouth wash! It's possible to have allergic reactions to fungi and if it's a purple Cortinarius it's likely to be poisonous anyway. There could be small bits of dog poop or whatever on the mushroom also, it's a risk I'm willing to take for now!
I love the name too (and the photo)!
Thank you, leah! This has truly been a learning experience to me, too! Who knew that slime taste would distinguish a species? :) Thanks again for your nice comment.
I am no expert but love the name.. this has been very eye opening for me. I never would have thought to test slime for taste. Still love the beauty of the mushroom.
Thanks, rat. Maybe if someone else can find the identification at species level, they will be able to suggest. Next one I come about, I will lick the slime on it. :P What should I look for in the flavor of the slime? I hope you like my common name!
I wouldn't worry too much about what species it is myself because Cortinarius has the reputation of being very difficult genus and you might need more information than just this photo but if you can narrow it down to a genus then I think you're doing quite well. good luck!
Thanks, rat. I will take a look into all of these possibilities, and will let you know what I come up with.
to be certain I think you have to look at the spores etc under a microscope. licking the cap would have been useful to check whether it's bitter or not and rule out either C. iodes or C. iodeoides.
good point it does seem very purple. I don't know these mushrooms I just remember reading up about purple mushrooms one time so I googled for purple Cortinarius mushrooms. I think I read Lepista nuda (another similar looking purple mushroom) gets paler as it matures. It could be the same with Cortinarius iodes? I don't think it's Lepista nuda because L. nuda grows on leaf litter apparently.
Other purple Cortinarius species:
Cortinarius iodeoides
C. archeri
C. purpurascens
C. camphoratus (perhaps a little on the pale side though)
Though I wonder why C. iodes has a white stem, and this one has a purple stem.