╔══ Identifications · 15 October 202611 sightings
speciesCortinarius violaceus
locationKatzenstein
habitatMycorrhizal with birch, oak, beech and spruce in old deciduous and coniferous forest, usually on acidic soil, late summer to autumn
edibilityEdible at best mediocre — some guides call it inedible and report a bitter aftertaste when cooked
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Deep violet to blue-black cap up to 15 cm across, dry and covered in fine downy scales — neither sticky nor slimy
- │ ▸ Violet flesh throughout, darker just below the cap skin and in the stem
- │ ▸ Dark violet gills, broadly attached, turning purplish-brown with age
- │ ▸ Stem the same violet colour, woolly-fibrillose, often with a swollen base and a web-like veil that soon vanishes
- │ ▸ Mild taste and a faint smell reminiscent of cedar wood
└─ The type species of the webcaps, and one of the few violet mushrooms that is neither sticky nor slimy. Widespread but nowhere common in Europe and listed as endangered in the British Isles; it is prized for its beauty rather than its flavour, and the number of similarly coloured webcaps makes it a risky species to collect for the table.
speciesPodoscypha petalodes
locationWamberg approach
habitatSaprobic on dead or buried wood and roots, frequently at the base of trees; in Europe mostly in warm, sheltered places such as botanic gardens and greenhouses
edibilityInedible — thin, leathery and tough
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Thin, leathery, funnel- or trumpet-shaped fruit bodies ("wine glasses"), often fused into a rosette, with wavy, lobed rims
- │ ▸ Upper surface orange-brown to chestnut with concentric zones, paler at the edge; underside smooth, cream to grey
- │ ▸ Underside is smooth and fertile like a Stereum — there are no pores, gills or spines
- │ ▸ Grows from dead or buried wood, often at the base of living trees; tough and papery when dry
└─ A mainly tropical and subtropical species whose stacked funnels are unmistakable in shape; it was originally described as Stereum petalodes. The similar Podoscypha multizonata of warmer parts of Europe forms flatter, more clearly zoned rosettes.
└─ Alt. Zoned Rosette (Podoscypha multizonata). However, it seems here there are individual "glasses" rather than multi-layered concentric rosettes.
speciesXylaria longipes
locationWamberg approach
habitatSaprobic on dead logs, branches and stumps of broadleaves, favouring sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) and beech; causes a soft rot; found most of the year
edibilityInedible — the flesh is far too hard and tough
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Slender, black, club-shaped fruit bodies (2.5–6.5 cm tall) on a distinct narrow sterile stalk, usually unbranched
- │ ▸ Surface greyish to brownish when young and dusted with pale conidia, blackening and cracking into scales with age
- │ ▸ Interior flesh white and very tough
- │ ▸ Differs from Xylaria polymorpha by its longer stalk, more slender clubs and smaller spores (12–16 µm against 20–32 µm)
- │ ▸ Grows directly from dead hardwood, especially sycamore maple and beech
└─ Named for its long stalk (longipes). The maple wood it decays is part of the "fungal violin" research, where controlled fungal decay was shown to shape the acoustic properties of instrument wood.
speciesBoletopsis leucomelaena
locationWamberg approach
habitatEctomycorrhizal with spruce (Picea), in rich, grassy or mossy conifer forest on mull or raw humus; late summer to autumn
edibilityInedible — mild at first but with a soapy, slowly bitter aftertaste; rare, so leave it in place
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ A fleshy, annual polypore with the habit of a bolete, but the tube layer cannot be peeled from the cap flesh
- │ ▸ Cap dark grey to black-brown, smooth and matt, with a faint magenta tinge when fresh; young specimens paler towards the margin
- │ ▸ Pore surface creamy white, taking on a pale lilac-grey or smoky grey-brown tint, bruising pinkish; pores 1–3 per mm, slightly decurrent
- │ ▸ All parts stain a permanent sepia-black with potassium hydroxide (KOH)
- │ ▸ Central to eccentric stem with a whitish apex and orange mycelium at the base; fruit bodies grow in dense clusters
└─ Easily confused with the pine-associated Boletopsis grisea, which is silvery grey, more compact and less fragile, and prefers dry sandy heath. Despite its bolete-like look, DNA places the genus near the toothed fungi such as Sarcodon.
└─ Alt. Boletopsis grisea
speciesPodoscypha petalodes
locationLahnenwiesgraben (Burgrain)
habitatSaprobic on dead or buried wood and roots, frequently at the base of trees; in Europe mostly in warm, sheltered places such as botanic gardens and greenhouses
edibilityInedible — thin, leathery and tough
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Thin, leathery, funnel- or trumpet-shaped fruit bodies ("wine glasses"), often fused into a rosette, with wavy, lobed rims
- │ ▸ Upper surface orange-brown to chestnut with concentric zones, paler at the edge; underside smooth, cream to grey
- │ ▸ Underside is smooth and fertile like a Stereum — there are no pores, gills or spines
- │ ▸ Grows from dead or buried wood, often at the base of living trees; tough and papery when dry
└─ A mainly tropical and subtropical species whose stacked funnels are unmistakable in shape; it was originally described as Stereum petalodes. The similar Podoscypha multizonata of warmer parts of Europe forms flatter, more clearly zoned rosettes.
speciesCortinarius violaceus
locationWamberg approach
habitatMycorrhizal with birch, oak, beech and spruce in old deciduous and coniferous forest, usually on acidic soil, late summer to autumn
edibilityEdible at best mediocre — some guides call it inedible and report a bitter aftertaste when cooked
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Deep violet to blue-black cap up to 15 cm across, dry and covered in fine downy scales — neither sticky nor slimy
- │ ▸ Violet flesh throughout, darker just below the cap skin and in the stem
- │ ▸ Dark violet gills, broadly attached, turning purplish-brown with age
- │ ▸ Stem the same violet colour, woolly-fibrillose, often with a swollen base and a web-like veil that soon vanishes
- │ ▸ Mild taste and a faint smell reminiscent of cedar wood
└─ The type species of the webcaps, and one of the few violet mushrooms that is neither sticky nor slimy. Widespread but nowhere common in Europe and listed as endangered in the British Isles; it is prized for its beauty rather than its flavour, and the number of similarly coloured webcaps makes it a risky species to collect for the table.
speciesCortinarius violaceus
locationWamberg approach
habitatMycorrhizal with birch, oak, beech and spruce in old deciduous and coniferous forest, usually on acidic soil, late summer to autumn
edibilityEdible at best mediocre — some guides call it inedible and report a bitter aftertaste when cooked
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Deep violet to blue-black cap up to 15 cm across, dry and covered in fine downy scales — neither sticky nor slimy
- │ ▸ Violet flesh throughout, darker just below the cap skin and in the stem
- │ ▸ Dark violet gills, broadly attached, turning purplish-brown with age
- │ ▸ Stem the same violet colour, woolly-fibrillose, often with a swollen base and a web-like veil that soon vanishes
- │ ▸ Mild taste and a faint smell reminiscent of cedar wood
└─ The type species of the webcaps, and one of the few violet mushrooms that is neither sticky nor slimy. Widespread but nowhere common in Europe and listed as endangered in the British Isles; it is prized for its beauty rather than its flavour, and the number of similarly coloured webcaps makes it a risky species to collect for the table.
speciesHydnum rufescens
locationWamberg approach
habitatMycorrhizal with spruce, pine, beech and oak in coniferous, deciduous and mixed forest, summer to autumn
edibilityEdible — mild and pleasant when young, older caps often slightly bitter
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Terracotta to apricot-orange cap, 3–8 cm across — smaller, more regularly shaped and deeper coloured than the Wood Hedgehog (Hydnum repandum)
- │ ▸ Soft spines (teeth) instead of gills under the cap, cream to pale orange and 3–5 mm long
- │ ▸ White to pale ochre stem, centrally attached and firm; flesh white to yellowish
- │ ▸ Pleasant fruity smell and mild taste that turns slightly bitter with age
- │ ▸ Cream-coloured spore print
└─ A smaller, deeper-coloured twin of the Wood Hedgehog, once treated as a variety of it. Both are safe to collect: no mushroom with soft spines under the cap is poisonous. The firm flesh makes this a good keeper and market mushroom — pick young specimens, because older ones often turn bitter.
speciesLepiota clypeolaria
locationWamberg approach
habitatOn leaf litter in deciduous and coniferous woodland, especially under beech and oak
edibilityPoisonous — like many Lepiota species, suspected of causing gastrointestinal poisoning
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ White cap covered with reddish-brown, woolly scales, denser towards the centre
- │ ▸ Slender stem with a fibrous, woolly zone instead of a firm ring and a shaggy, white-felted base ('fleecy boot')
- │ ▸ White, free gills and white spore print
- │ ▸ Cap conical-bell-shaped at first, then expanding to convex
speciesPseudohydnum gelatinosum
locationWamberg approach
habitatOn strongly decayed, damp conifer stumps (spruce, pine); rarely on hardwood
edibilityEdible but of no culinary value
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Gelatinous, tongue- to fan-shaped fruit body
- │ ▸ Underside covered with soft, hanging teeth (spines)
- │ ▸ Translucent whitish to grey-brown, jelly-firm flesh
- │ ▸ Short lateral stem, sometimes missing entirely
└─ Looks like a jelly fungus but bears soft spines like a hedgehog fungus — hence the name. Edible, though it tastes of almost nothing.
speciesStropharia aeruginosa
locationWamberg approach
habitatSaprotrophic on rotting wood, wood-chip mulch, grassy woodland, roadside verges and parks, spring to autumn
edibilityNot recommended — widely reported as poisonous, though a few European guides list it as edible with a mildly spicy taste; treat as inedible
├─ Key Features
- │ ▸ Vivid blue-green, glutinous cap 2–8 cm across, sprinkled with white veil remnants that sit as flecks near the margin
- │ ▸ The colour fades or washes off with rain and age, turning yellow-ochre — old caps lose the blue-green entirely
- │ ▸ White stem of even thickness with a fragile dark ring; below the ring fine white scales
- │ ▸ Gills white at first, then clay-brown, often with a paler edge; spore print brownish-purple
└─ Told apart from lookalikes by the slimy blue-green cap with white flecks combined with the dark ring on the white stem. Reported poisonous in many guidebooks, while a few European sources call it edible — with the toxic constituents undescribed and the effects unclear, it is not worth collecting. Wood-chip mulch in gardens and parks is its favourite substrate.