amathyst deciever or lilac fibrecap

[willpower]

Hi, wondering if someone can clarify the difference between amathyst deciever and the lilac fibrecap?

I think they may have different coloured spores but what about some more immedite differences?

Looking at photos of the two they look pretty similar, and as the fibrecap is given a triple x by John Wright and grows in the same habitat I really don't want to mess it up!

Any help much appreciated!

 

[Geoff Dann]

Hi, wondering if someone can clarify the difference between amathyst deciever and the lilac fibrecap?

I think they may have different coloured spores but what about some more immedite differences?

Looking at photos of the two they look pretty similar, and as the fibrecap is given a triple x by John Wright and grows in the same habitat I really don't want to mess it up!

Any help much appreciated!

The gills are completely different. The Inocybe ("fibrecap") has white gills which are adnexed. The Laccaria ("deceiver") has purple gills which are decurrent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamella_(mycology)

The Laccaria is much more common. You are unlikely to find the Inocybe.

 

[yomperalex]

I had a large haul of amethyst decievers over the weekend and have always found them pretty easy to identify - vivid colour (though occassionally pale) and a reall broad spaced gill.

I just had a look at lilac fibres and the main difference I could discern was that it had a fairly pronounced nipple and a sheen that aren't reallly present on a deciever, also the gills appear tighter packed.

This is, of course, not advice to go eating a mushroom that you have not clearly identified.

Alex

 

[xylaria]

My kids use the hollow stems and thick gills as the clearist feature for amythists, as laccarias can be freakyly shaped. Generally when you find decievers you find a plateful. and the lilac fibrecap you find on its own. However my daughter managed to find a lilac inocybe in amoungst a big crowd of amythists. The decurrent tooth on amethysts can often get nibbled off, but the gills are always very thick.

Learn what mycena pura looks like as well, it is generally quite pinky but the colour depends on weather and age. they are really common and I always thought of them as toxic. They alledgly taste pretty radish-like. The gils are quite bit more delicate than the decievers, they ten to be found in big groups. the stem on mycena puras dont twist and are straight.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Learn what mycena pura looks like as well, it is generally quite pinky but the colour depends on weather and age. they are really common and I always thought of them as toxic. They alledgly taste pretty radish-like.

Mycena pura was once considered edible, but is now known to contain toxins. It has also been split into two species, now called M. pura and M. rosea. Both could be mistaken for Laccarias, because Laccarias are so variable. I've eaten both of them in the past, and yes they taste like radish.

 

[xylaria]

Mycena pura was once considered edible, but is now known to contain toxins. It has also been split into two species, now called M. pura and M. rosea. Both could be mistaken for Laccarias, because Laccarias are so variable. I've eaten both of them in the past, and yes they taste like radish.

In my courtecuisse m.rosea was named by gramberg who was an edwardian myclogist. I know Courtecuisse is taxonomic divisionist to the point of irration, but he has 7 or so purply-pinky-lilacy mycena of the subsect calodontes. Mycena pura is one in most common field guides, and personally I would be hard pressed to tell them apart from the other 6 without a microscope. One of my older field guides list mycena pura as deadly. The pioson in it is muscarine which has an antidote, there is also some referance to m.pura causing hallications. Muscarine and ibotenic acid are closly related chemicals [they are both in fly agarics and pantercaps], so causing both the nerve and the psycotropic effect is possible. I am in no hurry to find out the full effects of eating a plateful, but i might try a spit out taste test as an ID tool.

 

[Geoff Dann]

In my courtecuisse m.rosea was named by gramberg who was an edwardian myclogist. I know Courtecuisse is taxonomic divisionist to the point of irration, but he has 7 or so purply-pinky-lilacy mycena of the subsect calodontes. Mycena pura is one in most common field guides, and personally I would be hard pressed to tell them apart from the other 6 without a microscope.

Last year I found rosea and pura growing in the same place. This led to some confusion, because the picture in Phillips which is labelled pura is actually rosea, and that book doesn't have anything in it labelled rosea. I certainly couldn't distinguish six subspecies...I don't do microscopes.