Laccaria amethystina - Amethyst Deceiver

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Laccaria amethystina is in every respect very similar to Laccaria laccata, the Deceiver, except that its overall colour is a deep violet when wet and pale grey when dry. Amethyst Deceiver caps are edible, although it takes rather a lot of them to make a good meal. The stems are tough and inedible.

The Amethyst Deceiver was formerly categorised as Laccaria amethystea, and this synonym is still used in many field guides that are currently in print as well as on web pages.

Identification Guide

	When they grow among moss, the caps of this beautiful mushroom stand out and are very easy to find. More often they grow among dark damp leaf litter and sometimes go unnoticed until the caps begin turning pale. At one time this mushroom was considered merely as a variety of the Deceiver (Laccaria laccata), a species of the same general size and form but very variable in colour.
	Cap 2 to 7cm in diameter, the caps are initially convex and become almost flat-topped at maturity. During wet weather young caps of Laccaria amethystina are deep purple (as is the specimen seen here alongside the tan coloured common Deceiver, Laccaria laccata).
	During dry spells the caps and stems become much paler and eventually almost white. The specimen seen here is not yet completely dry; its cap is becoming paler from the centre. Eventually, Amethyst Deceivers become pale buff, as do the common Deceivers. This makes identification of old specimens even more difficult.
	Gills The broad, deep gills are widely spaced and interspersed with shorter gills. Long before the cap fades to buff, the gills begin losing their colour. This is because, perhaps surprisingly when you see how vivid the young gills are, the spores of this mushroom are white. If ever there is just one good example of why we should not take gill colour as a guide to spore colour, this surely is it!
	Stem 5 to 10mm in diameter and 5 to 10cm tall, the tough, fibrous stems are increasingly more 'hairy' towards the base. Deep purple at first, but becoming paler as the caps fade, the stems of this woodland species are usually bent and often radially twisted. They are very tough and fibrous.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	Among leaf litter in all kinds of woodland but particularly plentiful under beech trees.
Season	June to November.
Occurrence	Very common.
Similar species	Mycena pura is a violet coloured bonnet mushroom, but it has pale gills and the stem is not fibrous.