Cortinarius asper.
About two-thirds natural size.
C. as´per Pk.—rough. Pileus fleshy, firm, hemispherical, then convex, rough with minute, erect, brown scales, ochraceous. Gills close, rounded behind and slightly emarginate, dull violaceous, then pale cinnamon. Stem equal, bulbous, solid, fibrillose-scaly, colored like the pileus but smooth and violaceous at the top, the bulb white with an abundant mycelium. Spores broadly elliptical, with a pellucid nucleus, 8µ long.
Plant 3–4 in. high. Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 3–5 lines thick. Ground in cleared places. Greig. September.
A fine species. The flesh of the stem is violaceous. Peck, 24th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
This plant sometimes grows in tufts or clusters and bears a very close resemblance to Armillaria mellea, both in color and in the character of the scales of the pileus. Peck, 27th Rep.
In thin woods and clearings, West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. The whole fungus is edible when young, and ranks high in Cortinarii. When full grown the stem is hard. Cut in thin, transverse slices it cooks tender, but does not equal the cap. Like most of the Cortinarii it is found in the autumn until frost kills it.