Cortinarius violaceus    (L.:Fr.) Gray 

common name(s) : Violet Webcap 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Cortinariaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Cortinariales/Cortinariaceae/Cortinarieae [sub-genus:Cortinarius]  

synonyms: Cortinarius violaceus-violaceus 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Inoloma violaceus)  

edibility : discard

photo gallery of  Cortinarius violaceus
photo gallery of  Cortinarius violaceus potential confusions with  Cortinarius violaceus toxicity of Cortinarius violaceus genus Cortinarius  

The cap is violet. The cap surface is not viscid nor sticky.

The stem is violet, bulbous.

The flesh is violaceous to whitish, unchanging; its taste is mild; the odour is faint, of cedar wood; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are purple then rusty red, adnate, distant . The spore print is rusty brown. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in damp broad-leaved (sometimes coniferous) forests, with birch, oak, beech, hazel, fir.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 11 cm (between 2.5 and 25 cm)
  height of stem approximately 11 cm (between 5 and 20 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 25 mm (between 10 and 40 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming red when in contact with potash.

Distinctive features : Velvety cap to finely scaly, violet-blue to dark violet; club-shaped stem, with same colour as cap; violet gills, washed rusty with age; odour or cedar wood, or thyme, or 'pencil wood'

Cortinarius violaceus is occasional and widely present in the forest of Rambouillet, and is infrequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Cortinarius violaceus in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Cortinarius violaceus in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18