Clitocybe violaceifolia

{{Short description|Species of fungus}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Western cypress blewit

| genus = Clitocybe

| species = violaceifolia

| image = Clitocybe violaceifolia imported from iNaturalist photo 347768235 on 23 February 2024.jpg

| image_caption = Contra Costa County, California, 2024

| synonyms =

| authority = Murrill, 1913

}}

{{mycomorphbox

| name = {{PAGENAME}}{{italic title}}

| capShape = convex

| whichGills = adnexed

| stipeCharacter = bare

| howEdible = unpalatable

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Clitocybe violaceifolia, also known as the western cypress blewit, is a species of gilled mushroom native to western North America. C. violaceifolia can be distinguished from its choice-edible cousin, the wood blewit, by its association with trees in the cypress family. According to California mycologist Alan Rockefeller, C. violaceifolia "smells like mud".{{Cite web |last=Rockefeller |first=Alan |date=2024-01-23 |title=Clitocybe violaceifolia |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197416399 |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=iNaturalist |language=en}} These mushrooms are theoretically edible but are reportedly quite unpalatable.{{Cite web |last=K.A. |date=2024-02-22 |title=["Found these blewits under cypress..."] |url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/773465569365150/permalink/7577128948998744/?mibextid=W9rl1R |url-access=registration |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=The California Mushroom Identification Forum (facebook.com) |quote=Katlyn A. [OP]: Found these blewits under cypress and they taste like shit. When I cut into them they even had cypress leaves inside of them.[...] Victoria G.: I ruined a dinner party with blewits from under cypress once! Foul![...] Debbie H.: I had that happen once and I didn't know why.[...] Desiree H.: That's pretty much how they taste, IMO.[...] Aidan H.: So nasty.}}

This species was first described by William A. Murrill in 1913 from a type species collected near Salem, Oregon by Morton E. Peck.{{Cite journal |last=Murrill |first=William A. |author-link=William A. Murrill |title=The Agaricaceae of the Pacific Coast—IV. New Species of Clitocybe and Melanoleuca |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/192171 |journal=Mycologia |others=Mycological Society of America, Mycological Society of New York Botanical Garden |date=1913 |publisher=New York Botanical Garden |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=206–223 |issn=0027-5514 |lccn=57051730 |oclc=1640733 |jstor=3753386

|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library

|location=Bronx, N.Y. |doi=10.1080/00275514.1913.12018520 }} Murrill's description was "Pileus convex, somewhat gibbous, solitary, 3 cm. broad; surface slightly viscid when moist, smooth, glabrous, grayish-violet tinted with brown at the center, margin entire, slightly paler; lamellae very narrow, adnexed to slightly decurrent, rather crowded, arcuate, pale-violet; spores ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 7-8 X 3.5-4.5; stipe equal, fleshy, solid, smooth, glabrous, grayish-violet, mycelioid at the base, 3 cm. long, 6 mm. thick."

The western cypress blewit has been documented in Oregon, California, and Arizona.{{Cite web |title=Clitocybe violaceifolia (research-grade observations map) |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&quality_grade=research&subview=map&taxon_id=1516890&verifiable=any |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=iNaturalist |language=en}}