Cortinarius iodes Berkley & M.A. Curtis 1853
This beautiful lavender cort with its pale lilac gills becoming rust-brown with age is a show-stopper. Often one will see white or yellowish spots radiating outward from the center disc, reminding me, at least, of the opening credits of Star-Trek, where the space ship is speeding through galaxies at warp speed. It is a small to medium sized mushroom which is initially and through much of its life covered in a translucent layer of slime.
Cortinarius iodeoides differs from Cortinarius iodes by its bitter-tasting cap slime, spore-size and its more common distribution in the mid-west. It is mycThis is in the Cortinariceae family of the Agaricales order.