This mushroom has a grayish-violet dry cap with purplish gills and a club-shaped grayish violet stalk (Photos A,D and E). The cap is about 1 ¼ inch- 2 ½ inch wide. It is bell shaped becoming convex to broadly knobbed (A and C). The margin is curved under. The gills are attached to the stalk, close, moderately broad and pale violet at least initially. It has a universal veil leaving a flattened covering on the stalk (The gills and veil are nicely seen in B). The stalk is 1 ½-3 ¼ inches long. Photos C-E show growth progression of the mushroom from A and B.
It occurs from August to October as a single mushroom or in clusters. It is found in mixed woods especially under oaks. A small colony was seen on the North slope of Signal Ridge near the road.
The cort family is the largest family of brown spored gilled mushrooms. It is often difficult to determine the exact species of Cortinarius one has although determining the genus as Cortinarius is fairly easy.
The content of NatureSearch is provided by dedicated volunteer Naturalists of Fontenelle Forest who strive to provide the most accurate information available. Contributors of the images retain their copyrights. The point of contact for this page is: Eric Scholar.