lilac mushroom?

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

This is a trickier genus than one thought!!!

as I've said before on a different thread, unfortunately the fungi are not in the business of making it easy for us to identify them; they don't have that many possible macro-characters compared to the flowering plants

ultimately the molecular guys will solve it, it's what is in the hyphae that makes the fungus - look at the various colour forms of Hygrocybe psittacina, clearly in that instance colour is not important or there would be masses of subspecies, forms or whatever

if we liked it straightforward we'd only be looking at butterflies

Chris

[PeteS]

Lepista saeva I think. The reason I am unsure is that they were growing in a wood, around a yew tree and well hidden by nettles. When I have found these before (another location) there has been more lilac in the stipe. The flesh is white (no trace of lilac) when cut open.





Still, not bad for a lunchtime walk home from work!

[NickCantle]

I would agree with L. saeva there too mate.

[SheffieldLass]

Some more Lepista saeva, today, very close to hawthorn. The ones on this site, which is mainly unimproved pasture / wood pasture seem always to be within a few feet of trees, usually hawthorn or oak, never out in the open grassland.







I've noticed that the lilac in the stipe of L saeva seems to be quite fugitive ... picked one the other day to compare the microscopic details with those I posted higher above as I had a nagging doubt that those might have just been very small L saeva. Haven't done it yet but checked it in the fridge today and noticed how the lilac had disappeared. I also checked the site of those others, still a few there but they are past their best, but they just don't look like L saeva, don't have that crude robustness ...

Melanie

[Chris Yeates]

hi

I'm getting increasingly confused . . . I think that PeteS's and Sheffield Lass's fungi are unequivocably nuda

I have followed Machiel Nordeloos in Flora Agaricina Neerlandica vol. 3 throughout this as he seems to have a very sensible approach to the genus; of Lepista saeva he says:

"Pileus (30-)50-120 mm, plano-convex with slightly applanate centre
and involute margin at first, soon becoming more or less applanate to
concave with irregularly undulating deflexed margin, not or slightly
hygrophanous, not translucently striate, beige brown, pale to moderately dark yellowish brown, grey-brown or ochraceous grey (Mu. 10 YR 4-7/3-4, 7.5 YR 4-6/3-4)), usually with distinctly paler marginal zone,
subviscid to dry, pallescent in irregular pattern of paler patches on
drying, smooth, glabrous, dull."

("Mu" etc. is the Munsell Colour Chart code)

no mention of the cap having any sort of violaceous tinge whatsoever . . .

as to where it's growing I think that's irrelevant: this is not a mycorrhizal genus; I can remember years ago collecting nuda amongst beech leaves in Roundhay Park in Leeds and bringing them down to the workplace of a then girlfriend in Queen's Square in central Leeds (they had cooking facilities - don't ask); we chucked the off-cuts in a washing-up bowl of water on to the grass in the little Victorian square and the following year Lepista nuda fruited abundantly in the self-same spot . . . .

in my personal opinion everything I have seen posted in this very interesting thread falls within my (and I suspect Nordeloos') concept of Lepista nuda - I'll check back to make sure that I haven't missed something

cheers

Chris

[NickCantle]

Melanie's is interesting there. You mention no violet tones..and there aren't. Just lilacs!

[PeteS]

My examples do NOT have any violet or lilac tones in the cap. It might be my hasty lunchtime photography, or maybe the green background, but in the flesh the caps are pallid or brownish.

[SheffieldLass]

I agree in the photos the cap and gills do look lilac ... however with the naked eye they looked murky pinkish brown. I think it is that afternoon light at this time of year which can make a photograph of white paper appear almost ultraviolet ... the grass in the background behind the tree is actually tufted hair grass not purple moor grass!

So much for saying they were only near trees ... found more yesterday on the site where it is moorland edge, with soft rush and bracken and acid grassland, far from trees. Brought one back, just been down to look at it, the cap under halogen light is devoid of any lilac colour, and it was a young one, so not aged dull ...

Was out there again today, and had intended to get a photo of one where the colours were accurate but got diverted by a sheep with its legs in the air ... got the sheep back up on its legs so hopefully it is ok ... but forgot to get that photo ...

Anyway, this is a colour corrected version of the original (honest, not a cheat!) which is much closer to the actual colour.



Melanie