Laccaria amethystina It is a species of Basidiomycota fungus belonging to the Hydnangiaceae family that has a cap of no more than 6 cm in diameter and a stipe that can reach up to 10 cm in height. Develops a coloration that can change with age and with environmental conditions.
This species is cosmopolitan, with a distribution that includes much of the temperate zones of Europe, Asia and North America. It is found inhabiting the humid areas of coniferous forests and other species such as beech and oak, with which it establishes ectomycorrhizal relationships..
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The hat has a maximum diameter of 6 cm, initially it is concave and over time it flattens out, and may even become convex in old specimens. It has a very striking violet coloration, which becomes clearer in older specimens or when it loses water.
The blades are thick, scarce, adnate, widely separated from each other, of a similar or more striking coloration than that of the hat. They present lamélulas before the union with the stipe.
The stipe is elongated and thin, cylindrical, centrally positioned, with longitudinal striations formed by whitish fibers, without a ring and slightly lighter in color than the cap, especially in its distal part..
The flesh is thin, edible, purple in color, slightly fruity smell and slightly sweet taste..
The basidia are mallet-shaped. The spore is white, while the spores are hyaline and spherical, with a diameter ranging between 7-10 µm, armed with relatively long spines..
Laccaria amethystina is a species of Basidiomycota fungus belonging to the class Agaricomycetes, order Agaricales and the family Hydnangiaceae. The gender Laccaria was described by the mycologists Berkeley and Broome in 1883, to designate hydnangiaceous fungi that presented thick and spaced sheets, and equinulate spores.
The genus has about 70 species, of which Laccaria amethystina It was first described for science by the English botanist William Hudson in 1778. He called it Agaricus amethystinus. Mordecai Cubitt Cooke relocated this species to the genus Laccaria in 1884.
Some taxonomists maintain that Laccaria amethystina it is really a complex of species very close to each other, which cannot be differentiated by their morphological characteristics.
Laccaria amethystina It is a common species on nitrogen-rich soils, generally growing solitary in deciduous and coniferous forests. Its fruiting body appears in summer and early winter. Establishes mycorrhizal relationships with different tree species, for example conifers, oaks and beech.
It is a species of wide distribution that is present in the temperate zones of Asia, Europe, as well as in the entire American continent.
The reproduction of the species of the genus Laccaria it is typical of agaricales fungi. The fruiting bodies of fungi emerge from the soil to perform sexual reproduction. The hyphae of the fungus are made up of cells with two haploid nuclei (dicariont).
In the basidia located in the laminae, karyogamy of the two haploid nuclei of the reproductive cells will occur. This gives rise to a diploid zygote that then undergoes a reductive division to form haploid spores (basidiospores)..
When the basidiospores are released into the environment and germinate, they produce a haploid primary mycelium, which, if achieved with another primary mycelium that is sexually compatible, will fuse and undergo plasmogamy to form a dikaryotic secondary mycelium and continue the cycle..
Laccaria amethystina establishes mycorrhizal relationships with conifers and also with some species of deciduous trees, which means that most of the nutritive elements are obtained from the trees with which it is associated. Despite this, this relationship is not parasitic, as the trees also benefit.
The plants involved in the association obtain protection against attack by fungi and some pathogenic microorganisms, they also obtain a greater amount of water and inorganic salts than the specimens not associated with fungi. This is because the hyphae of the fungi project several times further than the roots of the plants..
The main use of Laccaria amethystina It is for food purposes. Most of the consumption of this species comes from the direct collection of them by consumers, however, in some localities it is commercialized. Consumers of mushrooms indicate it as a mushroom with a delicate and pleasant taste, slightly sweet.
This species produces a series of metabolites that have antitumor activity, which is why traditional Chinese medicine uses it regularly.
Due to its ability to accumulate some substances, including heavy metals and trace elements, its use for bioremediation of contaminated soils has also been suggested. Some researchers even suggest that it can also be used to clean soils contaminated with radioactive elements..
Laccaria amethystina it is capable of bioaccumulating arsenic from soils containing this element. Arsenic can be present in the environment naturally and occurs in different forms, such as arsenoxides, inorganic arsenates or pentavalent organic compounds, among others..
Arsenic storage capacity is not unique to Laccaria amethystina, existing other species of Laccaria, as well as species of other genera, which present this same capacity.
The concentrations of arsenic in the species of Laccaria they can be up to 300 times higher than those found in fungi in general and are significantly higher than the maximum concentrations of inorganic arsenic that can be ingested, according to the recommendations of the FAO-WHO Expert Committee on food additives.
Due to this, the consumption of mushrooms of this species from localities with soils rich in arsenic is a health risk. For example, commercialized mushrooms from southwestern China in Yunnan Province have high concentrations of arsenic. Interestingly, China is the world's leading exporter of mushrooms.
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