''Thaxterogaster purpurascens'' is a species of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

producing

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

in the family Cortinariaceae. It is commonly known as the bruising webcap.

Taxonomy

The species was first described as ''Agaricus purpurascens'' by

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. Career Fries was born at Femsjö (Hylte Municipality), Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in Växjö. He acquired ...

in 1818. In 1838 Fries reclassified it as ''Cortinarius pluvius.'' The species was also placed in the segregate genus ''Phlegmacium'' by Aldabert Ricken as ''P. purpurascens''. In 2022 the species was transferred from ''Cortinarius'' and reclassified as ''Thaxterogaster purpurascens'' based on genomic data. This study also reclassified three of the variants of this species and transferred them to the distinct species: '' Thaxterogaster eumarginatus'', '' Thaxterogaster occidentalis'' and '' Thaxterogaster subpurpurascens.''

Description

left, The sticky caps may range in color from brownish to grayish blue. The cap is in diameter, initially convex before flattening out somewhat. The margin is rolled inward, and viscid, cuticle which is often slightly spotted, smooth and with small fugacious viscid concolorous flocci. The color varies from dirty brownish or brownish-rust to ocher or grayish bluish in the center. The margin is fibrillose (covered with roughly parallel threadlike filaments), then smooth, with a violet or reddish-violet to grayish-brown tinge, then concolorous with the center of the cap. The gills are thin and crowded closely together, broadly emarginate (notched), dark violet when young, with edges often slightly denticulate (finely toothed). The tinge and intensity of the violet coloring is similar to that of the wood blewitt ('' Rhodopaxillus nudus''). The

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

is solid, vivid violet paling to violet purple or violet brown, with a distinctly marginate bulb wide, otherwise almost cylindrical towards the base. The

cortina Cortina may refer to: Things * Cortina (tango), a short piece of music played during a tango dance event * Ford Cortina, a medium-sized family car built by Ford of Britain from 1962 to 1982 **Lotus Cortina, a 1963–1968 performance variant on the ...

(a cobweb-like partial veil consisting of silky fibrils) is violet. The flesh is violet lilac or violet, paling slightly when mature, and with a weak, unpleasant smell and mild taste. When cut or broken it turns purple, like the gills. It is an

edible mushroom Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruit bodies of several species of macrofungi (fungi which bear fruiting structures that are large enough to be seen with the naked eye). They can appear either below ground (hypogeous) or above ground ...

of medium quality. The

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s are

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

, slightly almond-shaped, verrucose, and measure 9–10 by 4.8–6 μm. The basidia (the spore-bearing cells) are 30–35 by 7–9

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

. On the edge of the gills there are thin-walled irregularly bottle-shaped cheilocystidia, which protrude 20–30 μm. The

spore deposit 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...

is brownish rust to light brown.

Distribution and habitat

The fruit bodies of ''Thaxterogaster purpurascens'' grow in groups in coniferous forests, mainly on more acid soils and are quite rare. It is distributed throughout the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

zone of the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

, and has been collected from Europe and North America.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2998122 purpurascens Fungi of Europe Fungi of North America

Taxonomy

Description

Distribution and habitat

See also

References