Amethyst deceiver

Description:

When they grow among moss, the caps of this beautiful mushroom stand out and are very easy to find. More often they grow among dark damp leaf litter and sometimes go unnoticed until the caps begin turning pale. Old caps become almost white in dry weather. Amethys deceiver caps are 2 to 7cm in diameter initially convex and become almost flat-topped at maturity. The broad, deep gills of the Amethyst deceiver are widely spaced and interspersed with shorter gills. Long before the cap fades to buff, the gills begin losing their colour. The stem is 5 to 10 mm in diameter and 5 to 10 cm tall, the tough, fibrous stems are increasingly more hairy towards the base. Deep purple at first, but becoming paler as the caps fade, the stems of this woodland species are usually bent and often radially twisted. They are very tough and fibrous.

Habitat:

Among leaf litter in all kinds of woodland but particularly plentiful under beech trees, with which it is ectomycorrhizal. Amethyst deceivers are also known to be able to form mycorrhizal associations with certain other broadleaf and coniferous trees.

Notes:

Spotted in National Park De Hoge Veluwe, Holland.