Laccaria amethystina

Synonyme: Agaricus amethystinus.
English: Amethyst deceiver.
German: Violette Lacktrichterling; Amethystblaue Lacktrichterling; Violetter Bläuling; Bläuling.
Region: Northern temperate zones, sometimes tropical Central and South America.
Habitat: deciduous and coniferous forests.
Use: edible in itself, but can absorb arsenic from the soil.MycologyLaccaria amethystina is a small brightly colored mushroom. Its bright amethyst coloration fades with age and weathering, it then becomes difficult to identify, hence the common name ‘Deceiver’. The cap is ± 4cm in diameter, initially convex later flattening, often with a central depression. When moist it is a deep purplish lilac, which fades upon drying out. It is sometimes slightly scurfy at the center, and has pale striations at the margin. The stem is purplish too, and has whitish fibrils at the base, which become mealy at the top, fibrous, hollow, fairly tough when rolled in the fingers, with dimensions of ± 5 cm long by 0.5 cm thick. The taste is indistinctive. The gills are colored as the cap, quite distantly spaced, dusted by the white spores; their attachment to the stem is sinuate, having a concave indentation before attaching to the stem.TaxonomyIt was once placed in the genus Collybia, as Collybia amethystina, which was probably due in part to its tough collybioid-like stem.