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Violet agarics on a red eroded bank
Cortinarius or Laccaria Genus
Angles captured. Seven frames working in from a wide view of the bank to close profiles.
Morphology
Cap 3–4 cm, deep lilac-violet, convex to broadly convex, smooth and slightly shiny. Stipe pale lilac, slender, 4–6 cm, fibrillose. At least two fruitbodies scattered a short distance apart.
Habitat & substrate
Bare reddish-brown eroded soil on a steep cut bank, sparse grass and pine litter. Almost no leaf cover — a raw, exposed microsite.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
Two genera stay in play. Laccaria amethystina and L. ochropurpurea have thick, widely spaced, waxy gills; Cortinarius has thinner, closer gills and a rusty spore print. Frames #4233, #4234 and #4243 show gills that are close and thin, with a distinctly pinkish-brown cast suggesting a rusty deposit — which points to Cortinarius.
To confirm this identification
One spore print settles the whole group. Rusty brown = Cortinarius, white = Laccaria. Because these six populations are almost certainly one species, a single print resolves all of them at once.
Notes
The reddish mineral soil here is quite unlike the leaf-litter habitat of the other five populations.
Found at Leominster State Forest, Leominster, MA on Thursday, 6 August 2026 at 10:35. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Violet cortCortinarius sp. · Jul 31Moderate–high
Violet agaric in pine litterCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 6Moderate
Violet agaric, collected and examinedCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 6Moderate
Violet agarics scattered on a hillsideCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 6Moderate
Violet agaric beside a mossy logCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 6Moderate
Violet agarics along a fallen logCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 6Moderate
Violet agarics on a mossy decaying logCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 8Moderate
Large violet agaric by a fallen logCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 8Moderate