The Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria amethystina) is one of our most beautiful common woodland mushrooms. When fresh and damp, every part of it is a deep, glowing violet. The 'deceiver' part of the name comes from how much it changes: as it dries, the cap fades to a pale greyish lilac or almost white, which makes it surprisingly hard to recognise. The thick, widely spaced gills stay violet longest, and the tough, fibrous stem is often twisted.
It grows in leaf litter in mixed woodland, often in large scattered troops among moss, from July into November.
It is edible, but it can build up arsenic from the soil, so it is best eaten rarely, if at all. The Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura) smells of radish and contains muscarine, and violet webcaps such as the Violet Webcap (Cortinarius violaceus) have a cobweb veil and rusty-brown spores. The Deceiver (Laccaria laccata) is its orange-brown cousin.
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Distribution
Widespread and common
Habitat
In leaf litter of mixed woodlands
Etymology
Laccaria is usually traced to the Latin lacca, 'lacquer' or 'varnish'. amethystina is Latin for 'amethyst-coloured', after its violet colour.
Conservation
Cap
Deep violet and finely scurfy when moist, drying to pale greyish lilac from the centre outwards.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Shape | Convex, Flattened |
| Surface | Smooth, Hygrophanous, Sqarrose |
| Width | 1.5 - 4.5 cm |
| Margin | Smooth |
Gills
Thick and widely spaced, violet, looking whitish when dusted with spores.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Attachment | Emarginate, Adnate |
| Spacing | Subdistant |
| Edge | Smooth |
Flesh
Thin and violet-tinged, fibrous in the stem.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Odour | Nil or earthy |
| Taste | Mild, mushroomy |
Stem
Tough and fibrous, often twisted, with whitish woolly hairs at the base.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Height | 3 - 9.5 cm |
| Width | 2 - 7 mm |
| Texture | Fibrillose |
| Shape | Cylindric |
Spores
The spines are up to 1.5μm long, giving the spores an echinate (spiny) surface.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Shape | Globose, Subglobose |
| Ornamentation | Echinate |
| Size | 7.5-10.5 x 7.5-10 μm |
Microscopic Features
The basidia are 4-spored.
Classification
- ↳ Phylum: Basidiomycota
- ↳ Subphylum: Agaricomycotina
- ↳ Class: Agaricomycetes
- ↳ Subclass: Agaricomycetidae
- ↳ Order: Agaricales
- ↳ Family: Hydnangiaceae
- ↳ Genus: Laccaria
Synonyms
- Agaricus amethysteus sensu auct.
- Agaricus amethystinus Huds.
- Agaricus lividopurpureus With.
- Clitocybe amethystea (Bull. ex Merat) Sacc.
- Laccaria amethystea sensu auct.
- Laccaria amethystina (Huds.) Cooke
- Laccaria amethystina Huds. Cooke
- Laccaria laccata var. amethystea sensu auct.
- Laccaria laccata var. amethystina (Cooke) Rea
- Laccaria laccata var. amethystina (Huds. Cooke) Rea
- Laccaria laccata var. amethystina (Huds.) Rea
- Omphalia amethystea sensu auct.
Reference Sources
T. Læssøe, J. H. Peterson (2019) Fungi of Temperate Europe Vol. 1. Princeton University Press.
G. Kibby (2020) Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe Vol. 2. Geoffrey Kibby.
