Goatcheese Webcap
A stunningly attractive PNW fungus when fresh is this terrestrial species found mainly under spruce and hemlock. Regrettably it is notorious for its unpleasant odor, separating it from nearly all other purplish or bluish cortinarius species. The caps are pale silvery blue with yellowish tints in the center, aging yellowish-brown from the center. The medium-sized caps can range up to 10 cm across. They are dry and fairly smooth with fine matted fibrils on the surface. The caps start convex with an in-rolled margin but become plane with age, retaining a broad umbo. The gills are lilac, and become cinnamon brown with age as they drop rusty brown spores. The bulbous stalks are 5-10 cm tall, from 22-28 mm across and lilac toned. The flesh is lilac superiorly and mottled with brown in the lower stalk. Stalks are solid. Cortinarius putorius is quite similar morphologically, with the same unpleasant odor of rotten potatoes, goatcheese or burnt horn, but can be separated by its thinner stalk and more slender habitus. The taste is said to be unpleasant but some people find it edible.