DAY 1 - Lilac Blewit (Lepista sublilacina)

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Photo by Neil Ross

Published on Project Noah

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Field Notes

Description:

DAY 1 - Mauve/pink agaric fungi. The larger specimens of this spotting are 5-6 cms in diameter. Caps feel wax-like to touch and quite hard, and the edges are smooth and rounded. Also translucent in places, and the gills are reasonably large. The stems are smooth, although slightly grainy in appearance. Signs of feeding on caps, possibly by snails or slugs. Other caps much paler and greyer in colour and warped, possibly being older than the fresh pink fungi (see photo #5 - fungi at rear). This species of fungi appears to fade in sunlight, almost to the point of turning white? TBA with further observations over the next few days. >> Images found online - https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackdiamondimages/4671631164/

Habitat:

Found amongst garden mulch which was quite moist due to recent rains. Fungi scattered over an area no more than 1 m/sq. Well shaded by surrounding foliage for most of the day.

Notes:

At dusk this evening these fungi almost seemed to be glowing. They appeared to be very bright in the fading light, particularly when contrasted against the darker foliage of surrounding bushes. As for my research, I know these are agaric fungi, and I'm certain this species belongs to the genus Lepista. Another mushroom that was given serious consideration was the Hygrocybe sp. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrocybe The general consensus from the folks at mushroomobserver.org however, is that this belongs to Lepista, not Hygrocybe.

Reference Links:

Lepista, Garden Fungi – Lepista sublilacina » Queensland Mycological Society

Species ID Suggestions

Mauve Waxy Gills

Hygrocybe lewellinae

Reference Link

Mark Ridgway

+ vote

Comments (75)

Neil Ross

Thanks, Leuba. It certainly is. Hard to believe I spotted this over 4 years ago. Time flies....

Leuba Ridgway

It's still a lovely spotting..

Christine Y.

I had to google musk candy, and it definitely looks like that...But, to northeastern americans like me, it looks like salt water taffy!

Neil Ross

The pink colour wasn't really obvious until started taking some pics. Yes, they look like musk-flavoured candy to me.

Christine Y.

Such an unusual color for mushrooms...and they look like candy mushrooms!

Neil Ross

I think this is my most popular spotting. Everyone seems to love pink mushrooms. Probably cos they look like they'd be edible and sweet :)

Zlatan Celebic

amazing ones. Beautiful pink!

Neil Ross

It really pays to have a closer look at fungi, Bill. It wasn't until I went rummaging through the bushes and got up really close that I saw its beauty. I had no idea how pink it was until I took a few photos. Pretty in pink?

beaker98

Wow! Not many fungi that I would call beautiful, but these are amazing!

Neil Ross

Thanks, Jason. This is my favourite mushroom spotting. The guys at work thought I had 'snapped my cap', but hey, look at what I could have missed and shared. My workmates know I'm weird, so what did they expect? lol

Jason Alexander

Very beautiful!! Lovely!

gully.moy

Sorry, that was meant to begin "In my experience..."

gully.moy

In my the thickness of the flesh of L. nuda can vary considerably. I notice because the skinny ones are barely worth eating. But it's still a good point about how much light these are letting through and they do appear bright unusual purple. I'm sticking with Lepista, although I'll admit that I'm not as confident as before and I think a Australasian relative is more likely than L. nuda.

Mark Ridgway

Here's some links to cross-sections showing why a L nuda would never allow light through the cap but Hygrocybes would. Note the thickness of the actual cap flesh (not including gills) in either. L nuda pileus section http://www.wildmushroomsonline.co.uk/EditorImages/image/woodbsc.jpg and typical hygrocybe http://curbstonevalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/HFlavGill.jpg Neil's images show several examples proving the cap flesh is like tissue paper even near the centre. That's what gives it the 'glow'.

StephenSolomons

stunning series too

Mark Ridgway

It would be pretty neat to get one named. I think you might want to check what's involved though - paperwork, analyses (including DNA and microscopic?), submissions, reviews etc. I think it takes years but I'm sure an appropriate hat would help enormously. Looking forward to the trial run on FB.

Neil Ross

I think it destroyed too many livers or kidneys, so I doubt it. I'll have a lovely cup of tea instead :-) Also, that means that 95% of Oz fungi are waiting to be discovered. Can you imagine what it would be like to discover a new species? How exciting that would be to make a little contribution to science that's unique. I'm gonna get myself a special mushroom-hunting hat. Gotta look the part :-)

Mark Ridgway

Humidicutis, Hygrophorus, Hygrocybe are all synonymous for lewellinae. Keep in mind only 5% of Oz fungi are described so far and most are unique to this part of the world. Enjoy the Bex... (can you still buy that stuff?)

Neil Ross

You are a legend, Mark, and you know your stuff. I'm getting so confused with all the different genus names. To look at it I would say that Jerry's spotting is exactly the same as mine, but to do an images search for Humidicutis lewellinae, there's not one that looks remotely like either. The only other image I've found which looked exactly like mine was identified as Hygrocype sp., although this may have been incorrect. The mushroom people reckon this is Lepista. Mushrooms giv me a headache. I need a bex and a lie down :-/

Mark Ridgway

Gill density and cap translucency really bother me for L nuda. Let's see another example of L nuda cap allowing light through like these do. Humidicutis lewellinae are only on east coast of Oz so MO comments (from overseas) should therefore be treated accordingly. The only problem I have with Humidicutis lewellinae is the caps should develop several splits between the gills after a few days whereas yours has a few only. Here's (your neighbour) Jerry Colby-Williams (you know Jerry!) version of Humidicutis lewellinae http://jerry-coleby-williams.net/favourite-fungi/#jp-carousel-2343

Neil Ross

Lapista nuda is certainly a contender, although the images I've seen of this species don't have the deep gills that mine have. Many thanks for your suggestion, gully.moy :-)

gully.moy

Not Waxcaps, they are Hygrocybe genus. Lepista is correct, probably L. nuda.

Neil Ross

I'm totally hooked on mushrooms. They are amazing. Yours is a beautiful spotting, namitha, and thanks too for your comments sarah in the woods and sintija. Much appreciated.

Namitha

Congratulations Neil! Beautiful spotting, never seen something like this in the wild. When I first saw this I thought, hey they look like flamingo oyster mushrooms. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/37063332 [from the very basic knowledge I have of mushrooms :)]. The world of mushrooms is pretty Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

sarah in the woods

I've never seen a mushroom this color! Amazing and beautiful!

Sintija Valucka

Yours have an amazing colour!!! :)) Wonderful spotting!

Neil Ross

Thanks for the links, Mark. General consensus from the mushroom people was that this is most likely the Lepista sp. and not the Hygrocybe sp. as was first thought. I musty admit I had forgotten to update the info. Back to mushroom madness for me :-/ Cheers buddy.

Mark Ridgway

http://morwellnp.pangaean.net/cgi-bin/show_species.cgi?find_this=Hygrocybe%20leucogloea&image_letter=&show_image=../images/half_size/Hygrocybe_leucogloea_half&show_date=2010-04-25&show_caption=Hygrocybe%20leucogloea%20fungus%20by%20the%20Fosters%20Gully%20Track http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Hygrocybe+leucogloea#

staccyh

This is absolutely beautiful!!

Adarsha B S

Congratulations neil ross :) well deserved :) And very informative...

Neil Ross

Thanks Mark. A mystery, me thinks. I reckon I've looked at a thousand plus images, but difficult to find decent pics (if any) of some of the more obscure species. Time to throw this one to the mushroom people.

Mark Ridgway

They probably meant Hygrocybe leucogloea which doesn't look likely to me.

Neil Ross

That's a nice way of putting it, Leanne. Thanks, and cheers to everyone for the comments and congrats. Greatly appreciated :-)

LeanneGardner

Congratulations Neil! So glad you got SOTD with your awsome Mauve Waxy Gills :)

ceejayalyssa

congrats for being the spotting of the day!

Reza Hashemizadeh

Congratulations Neil !

Jason Alexander

Congrats Neil! Very beautiful fungi and great description!