Introduction to Mushrooms Revised April 2000
by By Michael W. Beug Email: beugm@evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA
Slide 45.
Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis is a spectacularly beautiful mushroom that is also large enough and fleshy enough to be eaten. Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis is hard to confuse with any poisonous mushroom and has a pleasant flavor. At the same time I hate to call this very distinctive mushroom a foolproof edible because of the identifications I have heard given in hospital emergency rooms. Those make me wonder how some people keep from confusing grapefruit with cantaloupes. They both look alike in that they are more or less the same shape except that the color is different, the flavor and texture is different, and the size is different. I like to match all features of any mushroom that I am going to eat with a published description. Remember that there are old mushroom hunters. There are bold mushroom hunters. There are no old, bold mushroom hunters.
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