Laccaria ochropurpurea
This attractive edible was photographed in October
at the Overland Park Arboretum near Kansas City. It fruits abundantly
in open deciduous woods of Kansas in the summer and early fall. The
cap and stalk are initially brown, but become whiter as the mushroom ages.
Care should be taken not to confuse Laccaria
ochropurpurea with purple gilled species of Cortinarius.
The latter have a cobweblike annulus called a cortina and a rusty brown
spore print. Laccaria ochropurpurea has a white to pale purple
spore print.
by Ron Meyers