Blue webcap (Cortinarius salor)
Systematics:
- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Cortinariaceae (Spiderwebs)
- Genus: Cortinarius (Webcap)
- Species: Cortinarius salor (Blue webcap)
Description: The cap and coverlet are mucous. 3-8 cm in diameter, initially convex, then flat, sometimes with a small tubercle, bright blue or bright bluish-violet, then from the center it becomes grayish or pale brown, with a bluish or violet edge.
The plates are adherent, rare, at first bluish or purple, remain so for a very long time, then light brown.
Spores 7-9 x 6-8 microns in size, broadly ellipsoidal to nearly spherical, warty, yellow-brown.
The leg is slimy, dries up in dry weather. Bluish, bluish-violet, or lilac with ocher-greenish-olive spots, then whitish without belts. 6-10 x 1-2 cm in size, cylindrical or slightly thickened downwards, closer to clavate.
The flesh is whitish, bluish under the skin of the cap, tasteless and odorless.
Distribution: Grows in coniferous and deciduous forests, often with high humidity, prefers birch. Calcium-rich soil.
Similarity: It is very similar to the purple ryadovka, it grows with it and falls into the baskets of inexperienced mushroom pickers along with the ryadovki. It is similar to Cortinarius transiens growing in coniferous forests on acidic soils, which sometimes comes across in sources as Cortinarius salor ssp. transiens.
Rating: Not edible.
Note: Refers to the subgenus Myxacium, which is characterized by a slimy cap, stalk and common veil. Among similar species, it belongs to the Delibui (Cortinarius delibutus) section, which combines mushrooms with bluish-purple blades.
Photo of the mushroom Blue webcap from the recognition questions:
2018.08.29
