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Violet cort
Cortinarius sp. Genus
Angles captured. A single fruitbody, worked hard over 48 seconds — nine frames, the most of any specimen here. Standing-height shots from above placing it in the litter, mid-range context against the stone ledge, then a run of low close obliques showing the cap margin, gills and full stipe. The apparent size difference between frames is perspective, not different mushrooms.
Morphology
One fruitbody. Cap 6–7 cm, low convex flattening to plane, saturated lilac-violet with a paler silvery bloom toward the centre, smooth and glossy — a water droplet clinging at the margin in one frame suggests a viscid or subviscid cuticle. Margin faintly inrolled, becoming slightly wavy. Gills pale lilac to greyish-violet, close, adnexed, thin. Stipe 8–10 cm, cylindrical, pale lilac-white, longitudinally fibrillose, slightly clavate toward the base. No ring, and no cortina remnant visible at this maturity.
Habitat & substrate
Deep oak and beech leaf litter at the foot of a mossy stone ledge, water visible beyond. Solitary — no other fruitbodies in frame.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
Laccaria amethystina and L. ochropurpurea — both have notably thick, distant, waxy gills, whereas these are thin and close. Cortinarius iodes (viscid violet cort) fits the glossy cap; C. alboviolaceus fits the silky fibrillose stipe.
To confirm this identification
Spore print is decisive — Cortinarius gives rusty brown, Laccaria white. Also look for a rusty cortina stain on the upper stipe, and check whether the cap is genuinely slimy to the touch.
Notes
The best-documented specimen in the collection, and it shows: nine angles gave enough to place the genus and separate it from Laccaria on gill structure alone. A single underside shot square-on would have added the one thing still missing.
Found at Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Worcester, MA on Friday, 31 July 2026 at 17:53. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Violet agarics on a red eroded bankCortinarius or Laccaria · Aug 6Moderate
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