Cortinarius violaceus, the violet webcap, is a fungus found predominantly in conifer forests in North America and deciduous forests in Europe. The fruit bodies are dark purple mushrooms with caps up to 15 cm (6 in) across, sporting gills underneath. The stalk measures 6 to 12 centimetres (2 1⁄3 to 4 2⁄3 in) by 1 to 2 centimetres (3⁄8 to 3⁄4 in), sometimes with a thicker base. The dark flesh has a smell reminiscent of cedar wood. Though they are edible, the mushrooms' appearance is more distinctive than their taste. The species forms symbiotic (mycorrhizal) relationships with the roots of various plants. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and has undergone several name changes. Other populations once identified as C. violaceus or close to that species have now been described as new and separate species, such as C. palatinus, C. neotropicus, C. altissimus, C. kioloensis and C. hallowellensis.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_violaceus

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1816:

A riot broke out in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, over high unemployment and rising grain costs, spreading to Ely the next day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ely_and_Littleport_riots_of_1816

1960:

An earthquake measuring ~9.5 MW – the strongest ever recorded – devastated Valdivia, Chile (damage pictured), and generated destructive tsunamis that reached Hawaii and Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Valdivia_earthquake

1980:

Pac-Man, an arcade game that became an icon of 1980s popular culture, made its debut in Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man

2002:

Washington, D.C., police announced that the skeletal remains of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy, who had been missing for a year, were found in Rock Creek Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Levy

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

mouthbrooder: (zoology) Any animal that cares for its offspring, either eggs or juveniles, by holding them in its mouth for extended periods of time. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mouthbrooder

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterpreted experience, in which body, mind, and nature are the same. And this debasement of our vision, the retreat from wonder, the backing away like lobsters into safe crannies, the desperate instinct that our life passes unlived, is reflected in proliferation without joy, corrosive money rot, the gross befouling of the earth and air and water from which we came.   --Peter Matthiessen https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Matthiessen