Wood Blewit

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Wood Blewit is a common and widespread mushroom popular with mushroom foragers. It is found either scattered or growing close together (gregarious) but not in clusters. It often grows in rings or arcs. It obtains its nutrients from decaying organic matter (saprobic). It appears mostly in the cool months from September to December but may appear in spring and summer.

When young the cap is purple, smooth, dry, convex, and 1½″ to 5½″ in diameter or larger, and the margins are rolled under. The colors quickly fade away replaced with tan, brown, and flesh color, but the margin often retains some purple coloration. As it ages the cap flattens out and often has a bump in the center. Older specimens sometimes have uplifted, wavy margins. The cap is slippery or greasy to the touch but not slimy when wet and is often somewhat shiny when dry.

The gills are closely spaced or crowded and are usually narrowly to broadly attached to the stalk, sometimes with a notch near the stalk, sometimes running down the stalk. They are pale purple or lavender at first and fade to buff, pinkish-buff, or brownish as they mature.

The stalk is 1″ to 2¾″ tall or taller and ⅜″ to 1″ or more in diameter at the top. It is sometimes bulbous at the base. It is dry and is covered with fibers or hairs. It is purplish or the same color as the gills when young, becoming brownish as it matures. The base is often covered with purple, downy mycelium.

The flesh is purplish to lilac buff or whitish.

The spore print is pale pink to pinkish-buff.

Wood Blewit is edible. It has a pleasant to slightly bitter taste and an odor, when fresh, that has been compared to frozen orange juice.

On the ground in deciduous or coniferous woodlands, gardens, and compost piles.

September to December

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30.

Widespread and very common

Mushrooms in the three genera Collybia, Clitocybe, and Lepista are closely related. Some members in one genus are more closely related to a mushroom in another genus than to members of their own genus. Adding to the confusion, all three genera are polyphyletic, meaning that they appear similar but do not have a common ancestor. The three genera are in need of revision.

Wood Blewit has long been known by two scientific names, reflecting strongly held positions by taxonomists. In 1871 and for the next 100 years Wood Blewit was known by some authors as Trichloma nudum and by others as Lepista nuda. In 1969 Lepista was demoted to a subspecies of Clitocybe. In 2003 it was proposed that the subgenus was not valid, and Wood Blewit was classified by some as Clitocybe nuda and others as Lepista nuda. A genetic study in 2015 showed that Wood Blewit is not closely related to the species on which the genus Lepista was based, the type species. This suggests that the scientific name should be Clitocybe nuda, though the authors of the study declined to make that - or any - recommendation. Most sources now classify Wood Blewit as Clitocybe nuda, though the name Lepista nuda is also currently used by some authors. Couriously, NCBI lists both names.

Found off a trail on a slight slope on my way to swim at twin lake(behind animal humane society)

Found this morning under newly planted perennial. Purple dome just visible to the naked eye. The smaller ones under mulch attached together.

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Location: Fairview Twp, Cass County

Location: Martin County, Fairmont, MN

Location: Golden Valley, MN

Found off a trail on a slight slope on my way to swim at twin lake(behind animal humane society)

Location: Edina, MN

Found this morning under newly planted perennial. Purple dome just visible to the naked eye. The smaller ones under mulch attached together.