Laccaria ochropurpurea

This is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.

Fruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)

Spore print "light-colored": white or buff, sometimes tinged with pink or tan. Greenish and (except for the Russulales) yellow spore prints also go here
Stalk fibrous, not fracturing like a piece of chalk

None of the special features distinguishing the other white-spored genera:
Gills not free, as in the Lepiotas and Amanitas
Basidia not extra-long, as in the Hygrophoraceae
Spores smooth, except for Lentinellus

Growing on the ground

Found in woods
Not rooting

Gills attached to decurrent
Coloration usually white to greyish brown, sometimes purple or with purple tones
Never with a ring of any kind

Fruiting body often with purple colors, especially on the gills
If no purple colors, then cap warm brown and minutely scaly, and gills white
Base of stalk (sometimes entire stalk) coated with fuzzy white or purple mycelium
Stalk often with tough "shavings" or "hangnails" of fibrous tissue projecting from it

Laccaria ochropurpurea     (Berkeley) Peck

Here are the characters that distinguish this species from the others in its group. For its more general characters, see higher up on the page.
If there's just a few words or a microscopic feature here, a more thorough description can be found above.

Diagnosis

• Cap up to 4 1/2" across; very light purple brown, soon fading to grey or buff; often irregular with wavy margin in maturity
  
• Gills deep purple

Microscropic Characters

• Stalk up to 8" long, stout, often slightly enlarged below; coarsely fibrillose, often with reddish brown striations
  
• Usually under oaks

• Spores 7-9.5 x 7-9 µm
  
• Spines mostly 1-1.4 µm long, 1-1.5 µm wide at the base

Comments

The big reddish brown streak on the big mushroom on the right is the color that develops in the striations, although it looks there like someone scratched the mushroom and it stained that color
A good edible in the sense that the fruiting bodies are often quite large, and the texture is quite attractive: almost crunchy, like a carrot. However, it has no flavor whatsoever


 

 

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