Goat webcap (Cortinarius traganus)
Systematics:
- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Cortinariaceae (Spiderwebs)
- Genus: Cortinarius (Webcap)
- Species: Cortinarius traganus (Goat's webcap)
Synonyms:
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Goat's webcap
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Stinking webcap
Goat's webcap, or smelly (lat.Cortinarius traganus) – an inedible mushroom of the genus Cobweb (lat.Cortinarius).
Goat's webcap: Quite large (6-12 cm in diameter), regular rounded shape, in young mushrooms hemispherical or cushion-shaped, with neatly tucked edges, then gradually opens, keeping a smooth bulge in the center. The surface is dry, velvety, the color is rich violet-bluish, in youth it is closer to violet, with age it tends to be rather bluish. The pulp is very thick, grayish-purple, with a very strong unpleasant (and, according to many descriptions, disgusting) 'chemical' odor, reminiscent, according to the description of many, of acetylene or common goat.
Plates: Frequent, adherent, at the very beginning of development, close to the cap in color, but very soon their color changes to brown-rusty, as the fungus grows, it only thickens. In young specimens, the plates are tightly covered with a well-pronounced spider web of a beautiful purple color.
Spore powder: Rusty brown.
The leg of the goat's spider web: In youth, thick and short, with a massive tuberous thickening, as it develops, it gradually becomes cylindrical and even (height 6-10 cm, thickness 1-3 cm); in color, it is close to the hat, but lighter. It is abundantly covered with purple remnants of cortina, on which, as maturing spores scatter, beautiful red spots and stripes appear.
Distribution: Goat's webcap occurs from mid-July to early October in coniferous and mixed forests, usually with pine; like many cobwebs growing in such conditions, it prefers moist, mossy places.
Similar species: There are a lot of purple cobwebs. The goat webcap reliably differs from the rare Cortinarius violaceus in rusty (not purple) plates, from the white-violet webcap (Cortinarius alboviolaceus) in its rich color and brighter and more abundant cortina, from many other similar, but not so well-known blue webcaps – a powerful disgusting smell. The most difficult thing, perhaps, is to distinguish Cortinarius traganus from the close and similar camphor webcap (Cortinarius camphoratus). He, too, smells strong and unpleasant, but more like camphor than goat.
Separately, it must be said about the differences between the goat webcap and the purple ryadovka (Lepista nuda). They say some are confused. So if your ryadovka has a spider-web blanket, the plates are rusty-brown, and it smells loud and disgusting, think about it – what if something is wrong here?
Edible: The mushroom is inedible due to its unappetizing smell, which intensifies many times during cooking, and even poisonous.
Remarks Goat's Webcap I want to say thank you so much for letting me understand how and what a goat and acetylene smells like – I have never smelled either one or the other in my life. And now I don't really want to.
Photo of the goat's webcap mushroom from the questions in recognition:
2017.02.09 Alya 
2017.08.26 Vladimir 
2015.08.20 Alexander
