ID confimation for Wood Blewit (Lepista Nuda) please

[leek]

Hi

Just found these on the top of the South Downs - I think they are Wood Blewits - but they were on the grassland and looked only slightly Lilac when spotted (maybe because wet) and they couple i brought home are currently on some glass for a spore print and as they have dried out slightly are seeming to become more Lilac - Is this common for the Blewit.

Any confirmation of my suspicions would be appreciated.





LEEK

[NickCantle]

Lepista nuda will give a light pinkish spore print. Looks alot like them. If you've had sniffed them, you'd have been able to tell. It's the only mushroom I can say I can identify purely by smell and colour. It's very perfumed flesh makes for excellent culinary use. Look like them to me!

Nick

[Acutipuerilis]

The thickness of the stem looks more like L. saeva (Field Blewit) to me... the depth of the blue colour in the stem varies, but someone else will have to say whether they can be this colour! :-/

[NickCantle]

You're right there...Looking at them again, they are slightly buff on top. I presume if it was growing in the field it is L. saeva...I say that, I believe i've found L. nuda in fields before

[GerryNick2]

Field Blewit - Lepista saeva gets my vote, found quite a few about this week.

Gerry

[Leif]

Since this seems to be a vote, I will go for Wood Blewit. The violet tinted cap and stem are characteristic. The Field Blewit has a light brown cap, and the stem is white, with a distinct blue tinge that does not cover the entire surface. Though Wood Blewits are usually found in woods, I have found them in fields, though not far from woods. And conversely I have found Field Blewits in woods, though not far from fields. I am not sure what determines the preferred habitat.

Roger Phillips' photos show the features very well:

Rogers Mushrooms - Lepista saeva Mushroom

I am told that Field Blewits were known as Blue Legs and sold in the Midlands in days gone by.

As an aside I once found some fungi that looked exactly like Field Blewits apart from a lack of blue on the stem of all but one specimen. It seems that fungi are very variable.

[Fungus Ken]

The variability in the species around Lepista nuda and Lepista sordida in particular has led to the naming of several species and varieties but the experts don't seem to be clear yet whether the differences do justify species or varietal status.

As for Lepista saeva, the key in Flora Agaricina Neerlandica Volume 3 splits at one point on the basis of "Violaceous tinges present in basidiocarp" or "Violaceous tinges absent", and Lepista saeva is keyed out in both sections. So clearly it can be very variable in colour.

Two weeks ago I found a specimen of what I took to be Lepista nuda growing in grassland in the Piethorne Valley, far away from any trees. Friends in the group I was with assured me it had to be Lepista saeva but I was not convinced.

On trying to key it out, I found that the microscopic characters seem to overlap considerably which does not help in coming to a firm conclusion. One macroscopic difference seems to be that Lepista nuda has violaceous tinges throughout the flesh whereas Lepista saeva has flesh that is whitish to watery grey in the inner parts. On cutting my specimen down the middle there was no trace of violaceous tinges in the flesh so, from this and the habitat, I conceded that it was probably Lepista saeva.

It would be interesting to see whether this is actually a consistent character that can be used to separate the two species. So come on everyone, whenever you find Lepista nuda or Lepista saeva cut them down the middle and report back on what you find.

Ken

[NickCantle]

Aha, now out of this rises something I noticed upon my discovery of Lepista nuda a day or four ago.



Definitely nuda and I sliced one straight down the middle. Unfortunately, as I have no future telling powers, I didn't anticipate this thread thus the absence of photographs. I can tell you that if you cut a piece of the stipe off in a horizontal fashion, there is a purple ring around the edge of the centre of the stipe. This ring appeared to be of a different texture to the inner stipe. When I cut it vertically, down the whole Blewit, each edge of the halved stipe was yet again that same vivid purple.

Nick

[flaxton]

I found a Lepista at Malham today not a tree whithin miles. It was definitely nuda and also showed the vivid purple in the context of the stipe.

Mal