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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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