Confirm on Violet Web Cap...

[paulchandler6]

That is one of my "must finds" of the fungi world. Such a brilliant colour. One day

Paul

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by juliejam

Thats another one confirmed ..thanx for that ...

Julie

No it aint. This is not Cortinarius violaceus. Cortinarius is a genus that is very difficult to identify to species because often subtle macroscopic differences are used to separate them.

Cortinarius violaceus always has a tomentose cap, often with distinct tufts, unlike the specimen in the photo which has a smooth cap. This is not a feature that washes away or can be lost. All you have to do is google images of Cortinarius violaceus to see the typical texture of the cap surface. The specimens in the photo could not be mistaken for Cortinarius violaceus by anyone who has any familiarity with the species ... but since it's very uncommon to say the least, not many people will be familiar with it.

The difficulty we are faced with here is that we don't know the spore colour so it is easy to fall into completely the wrong genus. Lepista nuda would have a pinkish spore print while Cortinarius would have a rust brown spore print. This is a character you can easily resolve at home with a spore print but it is also often possible to work this out in the field if you look at the gills of a mature specimen with a hand lens - you can see little patches of powder which are collections of ripe spores. Without this information you are almost working blind.

In mature specimens of Cortinarius you often see evidence of the rusty spores trapped in remains of the cortina ie partial veil on the stem or edge of the cap. I can't see any evidence of a cortina on the stem or edge of the cap of the mature specimen so I am not even convinced it is a Cortinarius. My gut feeling is that this is likely to have been very fresh specimens of Lepista nuda, as Leif suggested but was talked out of.

Lepista nuda often has a perfumy smell when fresh, which could be mistaken for other smells. There aren't any Cortinarius species that spring to mind that would be as distinctive as the species in the photo.

But without the spore colour it can only be a hunch.

Ken

[Leif]

I dug out one of my photos of C. violaceous taken 6 years ago:

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...ceousFrame.jpg

It shows the features, including the scurfy cap, and the stem which has a typically bulbous base. However, I only know this species from one site.

Making an id via a photo is far harder than from the original specimen with decent collecting notes.

[juliejam]

Thanx Ken for clearing that one up...never mind more Wood Blewit's for me ...for the time being..I'll just keep looking..

Julie

[sweet rocket]

Hi julie
I uploaded a pic into forum images
I'm fairly sure its cortinarius violaceus,at least Ken Burgess on the forum thought so too. It was a dark intense colour and almost like rough velvet texture on the cap. Its a beautiful fungus

[NickCantle]

That's one hell of a necropost

4 years ago

[sweet rocket]

sorry folks. I'm new to this. Didnt notice the date. How did I find something so old on the forum?

[NickCantle]

It wasn't a dig, I just found it amusing!

Amusement gets rid of jealousy Been after that damn species for years.

[sweet rocket]

Although I'm new to WAB, I've been watching a patch of violet web cap for about 5 years. The area is in heavy shade and generally damp. The fruiting bodies are in 6" high sparse, shade loving, blue/green grass. Nearby trees are aspen and birch There are lots of aspen roots near the surface. Perhaps a mycorrhizal association. No great show this year, and no, I didn't pick the only one. I took the picture in a good year when there were many! August/ September seems to be the best time to find them.
We've had two extremely severe winters and the weather has been poor all summer. Probably been too cool. Just wrong conditions I'm hoping.

Happy hunting anyway Nick