A small, slimy, purple to lilac webcap of eastern North American oak woods whose cap develops yellowish spots with age. Peck's Cortinarius heliotropicus is now treated as the same species. The nearly identical C. iodeoides has a bitter-tasting cap slime and smaller spores.
Edibility doubtful; not recommended, and best avoided. Cortinarius includes deadly species such as C. orellanus and C. rubellus that contain orellanine, which causes kidney failure that appears only after a delay of days, often after the meal has been forgotten. Purple Cortinarius species should not be eaten. Purple Entoloma and Leptonia species are similar in color but give a pink spore print.
Help build this page
This page grows with the community. Here is what it is still missing:
Photos. None yet — moderators review each photo before it appears.Sign in to add a photo
Sightings. Spotted it in the wild? Add it to the map.Open the map
Strains. No public strains of this species on WeMush yet.
Track Your Own Viscid Violet Cort Grows
Join WeMush to log cultivation data, discover strains, and connect with fellow growers.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal with hardwoods, especially oaks; single or scattered in humus and litter, often in wet places such as bog edges and swampy ground; summer and fall, or over winter on the Gulf Coast.
Distribution
Common in North America east of the Great Plains, from eastern Canada south to the Gulf Coast. Wikipedia also reports it from Central America, northern South America and northern Asia, and calls it rare in the Pacific Northwest.
Characteristics
Cap: 2-6 cm, convex to broadly bell-shaped; slimy when fresh, bald; purple to deep lilac when young, developing yellowish to brownish spots, especially at the center, and fading with age. Gills: attached, close to nearly distant; pale purple to dull lilac, becoming cinnamon to rusty brown; covered at first by a thin cortina. Stem: 3-7 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm thick, club-shaped when young; slimy, whitish to purplish or silvery lilac, often with a rusty ring zone; white basal mycelium. Flesh: whitish to pale lilac; odor and taste not distinctive. Spore print: rusty brown. Spores: 8-12 x 5-7 um, ellipsoid, finely warted (MushroomExpert.com).
