Wood Blewit

Lepista nuda The Wood Blewit This section is a quick explanation of some of the identifying characteristics of Lepista species which fall into the taxonomic family Tricholomataceae.

Wood blewit. I find them in cold weather typically around October in Minnesota one of the last mushrooms of the season They have tightly spaced gills with a notch before they touch the stem Growing exclusively in leaf litter or other organic debris not growing in harmony with or infecting specific trees. Here they can be found growing in huge rings. They feed on dead or decaying organic matter such as leaf litter.

The two look very much alike but fortunately are both edible. Wood Blewit Lepista nuda. Blewits are not considered beginner mushrooms for foragers i.

It is found in both coniferous and deciduous woodlands. As long as there is leaf litter present even broken down through the top soil layer wood blewits can thrive. The name suggests that they are only found in woodland however some of the best places I know are nice old unimproved grasslands including along the coast where agriculture is often less intense.

Photo by Hank Shaw. This mushroom has a slightly swollen stem at the base a cream pink or lavender-to-blue colored gills lots of variation a cap whose color ranges from peach tones to blue and a dusty pink colored spore print. Do not eat any fungi that has not been properly identified by a qualified professional some are DEADLY when ingested.

Wood Blewits are saprophytes. Described by Pierre Bulliard in 1790 it was also known as Tricholoma nudum for many years. However there are cases of it causing allergic reactions when eaten raw and in some people even when its cooked.

Other look-alikes however are not. A lovely gourmet mushroom that can be found from November to February when there is not that many other mushrooms about. The wood blewet is one of two mushrooms often simply called blewit the other is the closely-related field blewit.