Purple Cobweb-Mushroom.Fig. 12.
(Cortinarius[Inoloma]violaceus.)420.
This is one of the best-marked of all edible fungi, and at the same time one of the very best for esculent purposes. It cannot be called common, although I have often found it close to London. It appears to principally grow inopen placesin woods. When young, it looks like abright purple silk ball in the grass, and when gathered the bulbous stem is almost as large as the top itself. There is always a cottony web, like cobweb (which represents the ring), stretching from the edge of the pileus to the stem, and this web soon takes its colour from the red spores, which are plentifully produced, colouring the gills and part of the stalk a red colour, very similar in tint to the rust of iron; when cut, the flesh is of a subdued lilac tint, and firm.
Broiled with a steak, this is a most exquisitely rich luxury, much resembling the meadow mushroom in flavour, but altogether firmer, and more meaty and substantial. I am always glad to find this species, and it is next to impossible to mistake it for any other.