Blue-gilled Webcap

Cortinarius delibutus

Coniferous and deciduous forests. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies small. Cap 3–6 (8) cm across, raised-flattened, occasionally slightly depressed, sticky, shiny, yellowish-ochre, yellowish-brown, lemon-coloured. Gills crowded, greyish-violet, bluish-violet when young, brownish-rust when old, adnate. Stem 5-10x0.5-1 cm, thickening towards the base, up to 2 cm thick, white, bluish near the gills, yellowish when old, with brownish oblique stripes of the veil. Flesh thin, whitish-yellowish, without any particular smell or taste. Characteristic features: cap yellow, gills violet (when young), stem thickening towards the base. Grows singly or several fruiting bodies together, among mosses. Inedible, fairly common. In Lithuania 123 species of Cortinarius have been identified so far, all of them mycosymbiotrophs; only a few are edible, the others are inedible or poisonous, and 2-3 are deadly poisonous.