| Western cypress blewit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Contra Costa County, California, 2024 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Clitocybaceae |
| Genus: | Clitocybe |
| Species: | C. violaceifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Clitocybe violaceifolia Murrill, 1913 | |
Clitocybe violaceifolia | |
|---|---|
 | Gills on hymenium |
 | Cap is convex |
 | Hymenium is adnexed |
 | Stipe is bare |
 | Edibility is edible, but unpalatable |
Clitocybe violaceifolia, also known as the western cypress blewit, is a species of gilled mushroom native to western North America. C. violaceifolia can be distinguished from its choice-edible cousin, the wood blewit, by its association with trees in the cypress family. According to California mycologist Alan Rockefeller, C. violaceifolia "smells like mud". [1] These mushrooms are theoretically edible but are reportedly quite unpalatable. [2]
This species was first described by William A. Murrill in 1913 from a type species collected near Salem, Oregon by Morton E. Peck. [3] Murrill's description was "Pileus convex, somewhat gibbous, solitary, 3 cm. broad; surface slightly viscid when moist, smooth, glabrous, grayish-violet tinted with brown at the center, margin entire, slightly paler; lamellae very narrow, adnexed to slightly decurrent, rather crowded, arcuate, pale-violet; spores ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 7-8 X 3.5-4.5; stipe equal, fleshy, solid, smooth, glabrous, grayish-violet, mycelioid at the base, 3 cm. long, 6 mm. thick." [3]
The western cypress blewit has been documented in Oregon, California, and Arizona. [4]
