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anchorcycle
Eager to learn more!


Registered: 11/03/16
Posts: 14
Loc: PNW - Seattle area
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue
#23801750 - 11/04/16 08:21 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Habitat: Found in Seattle, on ground that's covered in grass, pine needles, and leaves. Found in the woods near some large trees (maybe Evergreens? not sure what type of trees).
Gills: White/off-white
Stem: Nearly one inch long, whitish color, about 4mm thick, hollow. When I broke one apart, the insides looked fibrous/stringy.
Cap: Diameter a bit less than 1cm up to 1.5cm, was whitish with slight purple/blue coloration when picked. Solid (not spongy looking), shaped like a cone with a little nipple at the top in the middle. A couple of the mushrooms I found, which were mixed in with the others, had more of a flat, domed shape than the majority of them (the middle mushroom in both of my photos is one of these flatter mushrooms). I believe they're all the same type of mushroom.
Spore print color: Probably whitish. When I did the spore prints on white paper, almost nothing showed up on the paper.
Bruising: Purple/blue. Turned this color within 20 or so minutes after picking it. Cap and stem are both this color.
Other information: Scent is earthy.
Any help/thoughts are appreciated!
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elprawn
Mushroom Guestimator



Registered: 10/17/09
Posts: 14,303
Loc: Ilford, England
Last seen: 2 years, 1 month
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: anchorcycle]
#23801756 - 11/04/16 08:23 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Cortinarius species. You probably need to print for longer, or print more mature specimens. The print colour is rusty brown.
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Ran-D



Registered: 12/19/10
Posts: 16,313
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: elprawn]
#23801939 - 11/04/16 09:47 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm thinking Inocybe lilacina.
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Byrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: Ran-D]
#23801953 - 11/04/16 09:51 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ran-D said: I'm thinking Inocybe lilacina.
Me too.
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elprawn
Mushroom Guestimator



Registered: 10/17/09
Posts: 14,303
Loc: Ilford, England
Last seen: 2 years, 1 month
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: Byrain]
#23801964 - 11/04/16 09:55 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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You might be right. I thought I saw a cortina on the leftmost specimen in the second picture. Probably wrong, though.
Edit: Just read this Inocybe does have a cortina.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 3 hours, 47 minutes
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: Ran-D]
#23801967 - 11/04/16 09:56 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ran-D said: I'm thinking Inocybe lilacina.
It's not Inocybe lilacina because that is a name from New York, and the DNA sequences of the west coast species indicates that it's different. A new species in that group though. There are some Ceska sequences of this in GenBank.
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anchorcycle
Eager to learn more!



Registered: 11/03/16
Posts: 14
Loc: PNW - Seattle area
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#23802292 - 11/05/16 01:09 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Great, thanks everyone!
Does anyone know what makes this species turn purple/blue? I have Mushroom John's book "Magic Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest" and he explains how the presence of the alkaloids psilocybin and/or psilocin can cause the damaged area of a psilocybian mushroom to turn blue or blue green. Is it known why this species turns purple/blue?
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Adden

Registered: 06/04/03
Posts: 39,201
Loc:
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: anchorcycle]
#23802321 - 11/05/16 01:32 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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You want to see blue staining like this. (Photo credit: weedsmokingasian). One should pick or snip mushrooms, not rip them up, unless you're expanding the species with stem butts. This mushroom could've gone another 3 or 4 days considering the weather at the time it was collected.

Or like on this cap in the top left. You can just about see it. And in the center, too.

The gills of all the mushrooms you're looking for basically look like this.
Notice how even gill flesh is bluing. You can even see purple tones from the sporesplosion.

Some coastal species usually get this when they start to grow up or it's really windy.
But you can see at the base of the stem where I cut it is beginning to turn color.

Despite the base of the stem being white.

Blue tint is an indicator that psilocybin is present and is having a chemical reaction with air and water to turn into psilocin. When mushrooms are bruised or handled, the chemicals on the fruitbody react with the air/water around them. Kind of like a marquis strip but more like a glowstick. If you're not sure while picking you can pinch the end of the stem or the side of the cap and let it sit for a few minutes. So long as it is not baked dry by the sun, in which case you can try and rehydrate it with a drop or two of water then try and see if that flesh bruises. Older mushrooms like that though, eh, just be careful.
Edit autocorrect
Edit2: You'll notice the blue green or straight green in Psilocybe Ovoideocystidiata. It fruits here in the fall and is relatively new to the area. It fruits March to June if you find a solid patch.
And sorry for a block of text I dunno if it helps you or not but you seem to be the curious and dedicated type so I hope it's worth it Cheers.
(And always print on foil, not paper, because some species drop white spores).
Edited by Adden (11/05/16 01:48 AM)
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,276
Last seen: 3 hours, 47 minutes
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: anchorcycle]
#23802601 - 11/05/16 07:10 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
anchorcycle said: Is it known why this species turns purple/blue?
It doesn't stain blue, it just has some purple pigment. Perhaps as protection from UV rays.
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anchorcycle
Eager to learn more!



Registered: 11/03/16
Posts: 14
Loc: PNW - Seattle area
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: Adden]
#23810224 - 11/07/16 04:51 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Adden, thank you so much for all that information! I am new to all of this, so I hadn't actually seen any good photos of what bluing looks like on caps, gills, or stems. I really appreciate the photos you included!
We went out hunting for the second time yesterday and found a species of mushroom that had definite bluing on the caps and stems. We're thinking it's Psilocybe cyanescens and the sporeprints support that, but I haven't uploaded the photos and made an ID request on here quite yet.
Thanks again!
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anchorcycle
Eager to learn more!



Registered: 11/03/16
Posts: 14
Loc: PNW - Seattle area
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: ID request: PNW small white mushroom stained purple/blue [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#23810269 - 11/07/16 05:08 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said:
Quote:
anchorcycle said: Is it known why this species turns purple/blue?
It doesn't stain blue, it just has some purple pigment. Perhaps as protection from UV rays.
Thanks for that clarification, Alan!
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