Clitocybe violaceifolia

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]

Western cypress blewit
Contra Costa County, California, 2024
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Clitocybaceae
Genus:	Clitocybe
Species:	C. violaceifolia
Binomial name
Clitocybe violaceifolia Murrill, 1913

Clitocybe violaceifolia Mycological characteristics
	Cap is convex
	Hymenium is adnexed
	Stipe is bare
	Edibility is edible, but unpalatable

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]