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elprawn said:
Cortinarius species.

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PeyoteZen said:
Blewits



Just picked some today, and this is my first experience with blewits as well.
I wasn't sure what I was picking, but had a vague notion that they might be blewits.
When I'm out hunting, anything that resembles a baby porcini is going to get my attention real quick.

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PeyoteZen said:
Blewits

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Bobzimmer said:
I agree; they don't look like Blewits to me either. A shot of the underside would help. If they have white gills, they could be Clitocybe. You should hold off on attempting to eat those until a better ID is made.

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PeyoteZen said:

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Bobzimmer said:
I agree; they don't look like Blewits to me either. A shot of the underside would help. If they have white gills, they could be Clitocybe. You should hold off on attempting to eat those until a better ID is made.

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Clitocybe Nuda is a type of Blewit.

I will get better pictures if I can.
Found a different patch with bigger, more mature fruits and more noticeable purple coloration.
Will post them later if I can borrow a digi.

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elprawn said:
They're not blewits.

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elprawn said:
I don't know why people are so stubborn sometimes even when they admit that they don't know what they're talking about.

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maynardjameskeenan said:

There pride get gets in the way of logic.

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Anyways, here's a follow up:
Some better pics



And gills



These were purple when I picked them... remember that.
They've since faded and are now tan/grey/whatever.

Here's some from a different patch earlier today








For those who've stated that my finds from yesterday are definitely not blewits.. what are you basing that off of?
And if they aren't blewits, then could someone get off their high horse and make a suggestion as to what they might be?

Btw... all the purple coloration that you see in these new photos has faded and the mushrooms are now the same color as the ones from the original picture... tanish grey.

So??

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By far the most confusing mushroom beginners will encounter when collecting Lepista nuda will be the Cortinarius alboviolaceus complex. (For more on this mushroom click here.

Although once considered ‘edible’ all Cortinarii are now thought to contain toxins and should be avoided. Cortinarius  is a very large genus, with perhaps as many as a thousand species thought to occur in North America. There is no complete monograph and it is estimated that only half of the species have been described. I have seen a dozen or so names used for mushrooms in the alboviolaceus complex. No matter what the name used, this is a mushroom that should not be eaten.

Blewits and C. alboviolaceus resemble each other in that they both have a bulbous fleshy stem and violet colors throughout. They look alike. Beyond this however there are several distinctive differences that a trained eye can detect.

The cap of Lepista for example, will typically look soft and moist; while that of alboviolaceus will have more of a dry, fibrous, silvery sheen.

The habitats may be overlap, but Corts are mycorrhizal, forming a symbiotic relationship with ectomycorrhizal trees. They may come up through leaves, but do not feed on them as Lepista does.

One quite noticeable difference is that a young alboviolaceus will have a distinctive spider-web like cortina (curtain) under the cap and covering the gills. Lepista will have a clean stem from the beginning.
C. alboviolaceus: note the spider web cortina on the young specimens and the brown spore powder on the stem of the mature mushroom

Like all Corts, alboviolaceus will produce a rusty-brown spore print. Lepista nuda will produce a pinkish-buff to lavender spore print. In mature Corts, the spores can often be seen collected on the collapsed cortina as a rusty-brown powder.

And finally, many collectors report that while members of the alboviolaceus complex develop a musty odor quite early in their maturational process, the developing Blewit retains a light fragrance well into old age. And this pleasing fragrance is, after all, one of the prime characteristics of this choice mushroom.

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