December Salt Spring Island Fungus of the Month: Lepista Nuda

December's (belated) fungus of the month is Lepista nuda, the beautiful purplish Wood Blewit. This mushroom grows under trees and decomposes fallen leaves, needles, sticks and cones. They're not picky about what sort of dead plant material they consume, and are happy in compost piles and garden mulch as well.

observation by vail

Young blewits have purple-tinted gills, stems, and caps. As they mature, the caps fade to an easily-overlooked tan, but the gills and stem hidden beneath retain their purple tone.

observation by caladri

This species also has a wonderful smell. I've heard it described as "frozen orange juice"; personally I think they smell like Rockets Candy. Blewits are quite tasty cooked, though not recommended for beginning mushroom foragers due to a number of less friendly purple lookalikes in the Cortinarius genus. Lepista nuda has pale pink spores; Cortinarius species have rust-brown spores.

Lepista nuda observed by vail

Cortinarius camphoratus observed by enter_the_void

La Cave des Roches, in the Loire Valley in France was created by hundreds of years of underground quarrying of fine white limestone. Mining has long stopped, but over a hundred kilometres of the cave are now used for mushroom farming, including blewits. Check out these pictures of the cave, including decorative sculpture on the limestone walls done by the miners.

Humans are not the only admirers of the bright colour of Lepista nuda. They've been accidentally introduced to Australia, where male Satin Bowerbirds, who collect blue objects to woo mates, have been reported picking blewits to add to their collections. (Sadly, I couldn't find any photos of bowerbirds with blewits.)

observation by jss367

Living on whatever leaves and twigs fall off a tree can be a little uncertain, and Lepista nuda has a very strange trick up its purple sleeve to get extra nutrients: it hunts and preys on bacteria. In low-nutrient conditions, blewits will grow root-like hyphae toward underground colonies of the plant disease Agrobacteria, secrete a digestive enzyme to break down the bacteria, and absorb them as nutrients. Agrobacteria cause lumpy galls on plant stems near the ground.

observation by susanhewitt

Seasonal peak for Lepista Nuda is usually from September to December here. I'm posting this rather belatedly, but they'll be back!



Q: What did Lepista nuda say after it failed its grammar test?
A: Oh no, I blewit!

observation by corvi

Posted on February 24, 2020 04:21 AM by corvi corvi

Comments

Excellent!

Posted by vail about 4 years ago

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