A dark violet to blue-black webcap with a finely scaly, velvety cap and violet flesh. It is the type species of Cortinarius. Its color comes from an iron-containing pigment, and its fruit bodies hold about a hundred times more iron than most fungi.
Edibility disputed; not recommended. Some sources call it edible but not choice and others inedible; it reportedly tastes bitter after cooking. Its resemblance to toxic webcaps makes eating it risky. 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. Full safety details in notes.
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Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal; singly or in small groups, often near rotting wood, sometimes in fairy rings. In North America it favors conifer forests, especially old growth in the Pacific Northwest. In Europe it grows mainly in deciduous woods with oak, birch and beech on acid soils.
Distribution
Northern Hemisphere: North America (relatively common at Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks), Europe, Asia, and subarctic western Greenland. Widespread but uncommon throughout Europe, and listed as endangered in the British Isles. Populations formerly included here from Australia and the Neotropics are now separate species.
Characteristics
Cap: 3.5-15 cm, convex becoming broadly convex to flat; dry, covered with fine downy scales; dark violet to blue-black. Gills: attached; dark violet, becoming rusty brown from the spores. Stem: 6-18 cm long and 1-2 cm thick, often swollen at the base to about 4 cm; violet, fibrillose. Flesh: violet; mild, cedar-like odor; KOH turns it red. Spore print: rusty. Spores: 12-15 x 7-8.5 um, warty. Cystidia on both gill faces and edges, unusual in the genus (Wikipedia).
