Autumn mushrooms of Europe - Blue roundhead

Stropharia caerulea (Blue roundhead). The cap of this species of mushroom can reach up to 10 cm in diameter. In youth it has the shape of a bell, a cone becomes semicircular with age, and even convex in old age. The color of the hat is most often blue-green, turquoise, green-blue, sometimes even dark green. Light ocher in old age, almost white if washed away by rain. The hat is slimy when wet, and smooth and silky when dry. On the surface of the hat, there are traces of a membrane in the form of villi and white hyphae. The edges have woolly, hair-like debris.

The gills of young fruiting bodies take a white color, sometimes with a pink or yellowish tinge. They become purple-gray, gray-purple over time. They are dense and wide, the blades of the gills are slightly dusted.

The leg can be up to 10 cm long and 1 cm thick. Most often cylindrical, hollow inside, covered with white villi. White color. The leg has a ring, delicate, wide, fading with time.

Flesh white, or with a cream tinge in the hat and greenish in the stem. Quite soft and compact, watery. The taste resembles a radish, the smell can be unpleasant and sharp.

Occurrence - the species is quite common from mid-summer to November. It grows in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests. This particular specimen found in a predominantly beech forest. Likes moisture; it grows on the ground or on rotten wood debris, often in groups.

Value: Some sources say it is edible, others that it is inedible and unpalatable. In such cases, he proposes to consider the mushroom inedible.