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Harmless🍽️ Edible

🍄 Wood blewit

Lepista nuda · Tricholomataceae

🌳 Temperate Europe🏔️ Mountains🍁 North America
🧠 To remember it“No cortina, no dilemma” — plus pink spore print versus rust spore print, the foolproof test.
Wood blewit — Lepista nuda

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Late-season mushroom (often the last of the season, up until the frosts) with a characteristic violet hue, distinguished from violet webcaps by one specific feature: the cortina.

  1. violet to lilac cap turning beige-brown with age, fleshy, convex then flattened
  2. violet to duller gills, crowded, notched
  3. stout stem, blue-violet, pruinose (covered with fine dust), WITHOUT ring and WITHOUT cortina
  4. pale violet flesh, pleasant fruity smell
  5. pinkish-cream spore print (never rust-colored)
  6. grows late in the season, often in rings, in leaf litter
Sizecap 6-15 cm, stem 4-8 cm
FloweringOctober-December (until the first frosts)
Habitatleaf litter in forests, compost heaps, gardens, often in rings

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Violet webcaps (Cortinarius violaceus et espèces voisines)some webcaps are toxic or even deadly (delayed orellanine syndrome)

To tell them apart: the decisive criterion is the CORTINA: young webcaps have a web-like veil (the cortina) connecting the cap margin to the stem, leaving rusty traces from the spores; wood blewits NEVER have a cortina; the wood blewit's spore print is pinkish-cream, while webcaps have rust/ocher spores — systematically check spore print color if you have any doubt

🍽️ Eating it

Partscap, stem
SeasonOctober-December
Tastefragrant, slightly fruity, firm texture

Preparation : always thoroughly cooked (contains trace irritating compounds destroyed by heat); can cause digestive upset in sensitive individuals even when cooked, so consume in moderate amounts, especially the first time

Sources (3)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.