Contrary Webcap

Contrary Webcap (Cortinarius varius) takes its English name from the contradiction between its parts: a warm orange- or apricot-tawny cap sits above gills of an intense violet-blue, on a stem that is pure white. Few webcaps present such an obvious clash of colours, and in young condition it is one of the most memorable species in the genus.

It is a Phlegmacium webcap, meaning the cap is viscid when moist while the stem stays dry, and it is a substantial mushroom, with fleshy caps that can exceed 10 cm and a solid clavate stem. The violet gill colour is fugitive: within a few days rusty spores dull it to cinnamon, and old fruitbodies look like plain brown webcaps.

Ecologically it is a conifer-forest species of calcareous ground in the boreal and montane zone, most typical of mature Norway spruce forest. It is a good introduction to the Phlegmacium group because its combination of colours can be assessed at a glance without microscopy.

Cap

Large and fleshy, commonly 5–12 cm across, hemispherical then convex and finally expanded with a low umbo. The surface is viscid when moist and shiny when dry, coloured orange-ochre, apricot or tawny, generally darker and more richly coloured at the centre and paler towards the incurved margin.

Gills

Crowded, notched at the stem, and a vivid violet-blue to lilac in young fruitbodies — the diagnostic feature. The colour fades through greyish-lilac and clay to a deep cinnamon-rust as the spores ripen, so mature specimens lose the contrast entirely. A pale cortina hides them in buttons and later leaves rusty fibrils on the stem.

Stipe

Stout and firm, 5–10 cm tall and 1.5–3 cm thick, white and silky, swelling downwards into a club-shaped base that is rounded rather than rimmed. Rusty spore deposits usually stain the veil zone in older specimens.

Flesh & spore print

The flesh is thick, firm and white, occasionally with a faint lilac tint at the very top of the stem, and has a mild, slightly earthy smell. It does not change colour appreciably when cut. The spore print is rusty brown; spores are almond-shaped and warted.

Cortinarius varius is a fungus of coniferous forest, associating chiefly with Norway spruce and to a lesser degree with pine and fir. It prefers neutral to strongly calcareous soils with a deep moss and needle layer, and is most abundant in mature, undisturbed upland and boreal forest.

Fruitbodies appear from late summer into autumn, often in troops, arcs or rings on mossy slopes and along forest tracks. The species is widespread across northern Europe and in the mountain conifer belt of central and southern Europe, with related populations in northern coniferous forest elsewhere in the northern hemisphere.

This is an obligate ectomycorrhizal partner of conifers. Fungal hyphae sheathe the short roots of spruce and pine and grow between the outer cortical cells, forming the exchange interface through which soil nutrients pass into the tree and photosynthetic carbon passes into the fungus. On calcareous soils, where phosphorus availability is limited by high pH, that transfer is especially valuable.

The perennial mycelium spreads outward through the litter and moss layers, which is why fruitbodies often appear in arcs marking the advancing margin of an established colony. In doing so, the fungus contributes to litter breakdown, soil structure and the mycorrhizal networks that connect neighbouring conifers.

Cortinarius variicolor (Variable Webcap) shares the habitat and heavy build but has a grey-brown to olive-brown cap and only a faint violaceous flush, never the strong orange-versus-blue contrast. Cortinarius traganus is violet all over, including the cap and stem, and has a dry, silky cap rather than a viscid one.

Cortinarius caerulescens and C. glaucopus are blue-toned across the cap as well as the gills, and C. glaucopus has a marginate, rimmed bulb rather than a plain clavate base. Outside the genus, Lactarius and Russula species with orange caps have brittle flesh, no cortina and pale spore prints. Look at the gill colour of the youngest specimen, the stem base shape and the rusty spore print together.