''Gloeocantharellus purpurascens'', commonly known as the Indian Creek mushroom or violet-staining chanterelle, is a species of

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

Gomphaceae The Gomphaceae are a diverse family of fungi belonging in what is classically known as the Phallales or cladistically as the ''gomphoid-phalloid clade''. The family has 13 genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biologi ...

native to North America and

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

Taxonomy

The species was initially described as ''Cantharellus purpurascens'' by

Lexemuel Ray Hesler Lexemuel Ray Hesler (20 February 1888 – 20 November 1977) was an American mycologist. He was the son of Clinton F. Hesler and Laura Iris (née Youngblood). He obtained his B.A. degree with Wabash College in 1911 and his Ph.D. at the University ...

in 1943, from material collected from forest around Indian Creek, North Carolina on 11 August 1940 by Hesler and A. J. Sharp. It was given its current name in 1945 by

Rolf Singer Rolf Singer (June 23, 1906 – January 18, 1994) was a Germany, German-born mycologist and one of the most important Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists of gilled mushrooms (agarics) in the 20th century. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University ...

Description

The fruit bodies are high with a cap that is across and is orange to salmon pink, turning wine-coloured when bruised or cut. The surface is smooth and the cap margins are inrolled in young mushrooms. The spore-bearing surface under the cap are gill-like ridges that are up to deep. These ridges fork 1–3 times along their length and are buff, turning dark purple when bruised or cut. The stipe is in diameter and high, cream when young and darkening to a clay colour when more mature. It stains wine-coloured when bruised or cut. The dark purple bruising distinguishes it from edible chanterelles to which it has a superficial resemblance in shape.

Ecology

In the United States it is found in the

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, whi ...

in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, where it grows in maple-hemlock forest. It is

mycorrhiza A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant ...

l. Mushrooms appear singly or in scattered groups of up to 30 in August and September. Its edibility is unknown.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10505608 Gomphaceae Fungi of North America Fungi of South America Fungi described in 1944 Taxa named by Lexemuel Ray Hesler