Lepista irina - Flowery Blewit

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

An uncommon woodland species, the Flowery Blewit owes its common name to a distinctive flowery (not floury!) odour.

This attractive blewit is found with deciduous trees; it is most common in Beech woodland in southern England and is increasingly rare further north.

Although generally considered edible (but inferior to Wood Blewits and Field Blewits), the Flowery Blewit can upset some stomachs.

Cap	5 to 10cm across; hemispherical then broadly convex with an undulating margin; smooth; pale beige, becoming pinkish brown towards the centre when moist, drying paler.
Gills	Adnate or sinuate; narrow; crowded; cream, turning buff-pink when mature.
Stem	4 to 9cm long and 0.5 to 1.0cm dia.; fibrillose; sometimes slightly swollen at base; pinkish brown; no ring.
Spore print	Creamy-white, in contrast with the Wood Blewit and Field Blewit which have pale pink spores.
Odour/taste	Perfumed, like flowers.
Habitat	In deciduous woodland - in Britain, mainly in beechwoods on calcareous soil.
Season	July to November.
Occurrence	Common.
Similar species	Lepista nuda, the Wood Blewit, occurs in similar habitats; it is a more common species and has a violet-tinged cap.