Wood Blewit - or is it? (5 pics)

[Adze]

Hi all,

If this is what I think it is, then I'm a very lucky fella as I found it in my front garden.

I'm 95% convinced it's a Wood Blewit (Lepista Nuda), the only thing which is bugging me a little is that yellow/ochre/rust colouring on the very fringes of some of the gills - the remainder of the gills being that beautiful lilac colour.

Doing a spore print now - if it comes out creamy pink then I'll do one of these:

Let me know what you think!

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Looks bang on to me, the gills do lose colour as they age I find. Does it have a faintly fruity/perfumed aroma? Hope your spore print helps confirm.

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

well aint that pretty.

 

[Adze]

I just had an early look at the spore print... doesn't look good. There's a distinctly orange tinge to the paper. I did I bit more research and I've found this:

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5441~source~gallerychooserresult.asp
Cortinarius purpurascens The 'Belly Acher'

The superficial looks are very very close to this:
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~6319~gid~~source~gallerydefault.asp
Lepista nuda The 'Wood Blewit'

But the spore print is given as 'rusty brown' instead of 'pale pink' - the smell isn't quite right either, I suspect. The one I picked has a distinctly mushroomy smell, not unlike cultivated mushrooms, but definitely not what I'd describe as 'perfumed/floral' or 'unusual for a mushroom' which the guides allude to.

Ah well... just based on the common name for it, I don't think we'll be eating those then. Better luck next time. There is a plus side, they're growing on the litter under an ornamental form of a Leylandii, which is now the height of the house - there's nothing stopping me chopping it down and ripping the stump out now

 

[chickenofthewoods]

If it is Cortinarius purpurascens it won't be the first webcap to have caught me out. Interestingly, Phillip's Wild Food lists it as edible and even provides some cooking hints, but on the face of it I think you're best to stick with being safe rather than sorry.

 

[Adze]

That's definitely not pink!

There's several sources I've found online which list C. purpurascens as edible - and only two which disagree - one listing it as "poisonous/suspect" and the other as "unknown".

I think I'll wait and speak to someone who has already eaten it before I try it based on the evidence of a Google safari

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Don't blame you! Look at the Brown Rollrim (Paxillus involutus) for instance, loads of folks eating it consistently over the years, saying it's delicious & feeling absolutely fine and then it's realised that it carries a cumulative toxin which eventually damages the organs & knackers you.

Ooops. Too late.

You could try asking Badger over on the Bushcraft Mag forum. He's familiar with both fungi and can probably give you the defining features that'll help separate the two when you're looking to id in the future. There's usually some sort of residual marking on the stem of a webcap but I can't tell from your photos is it's there or not.

 

[xylaria]

Crikey they are pretty close look a likes!!! I would of said it was a blewit too.

The blewits have a thick transulent cuticule, and the smell is distinctive, apart from the spore print. I don't always do spore prints, and I wouldn't be suprised if I had eaten a purple webcap instead of field blewit in the past.
Thank you for the reminder that we shouldnt get cocky by admitting spore prints.

 

[Melonfish]

i was going to say, spore prints can really really make the difference on a mushroom and you've just proved it
nice work!