Lepista glaucocana is a species of violet mushrooms of the genus Lepista that, together with L.nuda, L.sordida and others, are known by blewit in English and by pimpinelles or moixernons blaus in Catalan.
The cap of Lepista glaucocana is thick, convex with involute margins at the beginning and finally flat, up to 12 cm in diameter. Its shape closely resembles Lepista nuda, but its pale violet colour with shades of ochre, pink and white relates more to L.sordida. The border of the cap is often lighter colour. Below, the gills are same colour or slightly paler than the cap. The gills seem adnexed like those of L.nuda, but a careful look discovers that they are in fact sinuate as if at the last moment they had changed the initial plan of adnexed by decurrent gills. The stem is thick, cylindrical and, opposite to L.sordida, widening at the bottom.
Lepista glaucocana appears in autumn in oak and holm oak forests.
The mix among the 3 named species of Lepista is not important since all 3 are edible, although Lepista nuda claims to be better quality. On the other hand, to mistake any Lepista with other violet-coloured mushrooms of the Cortinarius genus may be significant because several Cortinarius are poisonous. Violet Cortinarius must be distinguished by the radial fibrils on the cap, the paler gills that often carry rusty stains coming from the spores, the feasible rusty traces of the partial veil on the centre of the stem and by the swollen bottom of the stem.
[photo Jordi Badia]