The plant grows in thin woods, copses and partly cleared lands and may be found from August to September.
It is well to peel the caps before cooking, since the gluten causes dirt and rubbish to adhere tenaciously to them. Peck, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
In 41st Rep. N.Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist., p. 71, Professor Peck describes a closely allied species, C. muscigenus, n. sp., “separated by its more highly-colored pileus, striate margin and even, not diffracted-squamose stem.”
Prof. L.B. Mendel gives the following analysis: “Young specimens gathered in New Haven early in November, 1897, gave:
| Water | 91.13% |
| Total solids | 8.87 |
| Total nitrogen of dry substance | 3.63” |
Edible. Cooke.
In appearance the Smeared cortinarius does not appeal to be eaten. Neither does an eel. But peeled both are inviting. Raw, the caps of this fungus have a strong woody smell and taste. This is somewhat subdued by cooking.
I have found the plant in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, often among the leaves in mixed woods, but it prefers a goodly supply of light and the freedom of open places. It is often gregarious, sometimes tufted.
C. io´des B. and C. Pileus 1½-2 in., convex, at length plane, viscid, firm, violet-purple. Flesh white, thick. Veil fugacious, spider-web. Stem 2–3 in. long, 1½ in. thick, solid, thickened below. Gills violet, at length cinnamon, ventricose, adnate, sub-emarginate, irregular, sometimes forked. B. and C.
This is a small but beautiful species, the pileus, lamellæ and stem being of a bright-violet or purplish-violet hue. The spores are subelliptical, generally uninucleate, 10×6µ. Peck, 32d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.