Laccaria amethystina
| Laccaria amethystina | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Hydnangiaceae |
| Genus: | Laccaria |
| Species: | L. amethystina |
| Binomial name | |
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Laccaria amethystina (Huds.) Cooke |
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| Synonyms | |
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| Laccaria amethystina | |
|---|---|
| Mycological characteristics | |
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gills on hymenium |
 
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cap is convex or depressed |
 
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hymenium is adnate or decurrent |
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stipe is bare |
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spore print is white |
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ecology is mycorrhizal |
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edibility: edible |
cap is convex
hymenium is adnate
Laccaria amethystina, commonly known as the amethyst deceiver, is a small brightly colored mushroom, that grows in deciduous as well as coniferous forests. The mushroom itself is edible, but can absorb arsenic from the soil. Because its bright amethyst coloration fades with age and weathering, it becomes difficult to identify, hence the common name ‘Deceiver’. This common name is shared with its close relation Laccaria laccata that also fades and weathers. It is found mainly in Northern temperate zones, though it is reported to occur in tropical Central and South America as well. Recently, some of the other species in the genus have been given the common name of "deceiver".
This species was first described in 1778 by well-known English botanist and apothecary William Hudson as Agaricus amethystinus, and later put into the genus Laccaria by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke. The amethyst deceiver has had many binomials over a great many years, but reference to the amethyst coloration is featured in most of these. It was once placed in the genus Collybia, as Collybia amethystina, which was probably due in part to its tough collybioid-like stem. Its present binomial places it in the genus Laccaria, with the specific epithet amethystina, a pairing first used by Cooke in 1884. In 1922 it was named as a variant of Laccaria laccata, Laccaria laccata var. amethystina (Cooke) Rea, which is now a synonym.
The cap is 1–6 cm in diameter, and is initially convex, later flattening, and often with a central depression (navel). When moist it is a deep purplish lilac, which fades upon drying out. It is sometimes slightly scurfy at the center, and has pale striations at the margin.
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