Cortinarius praestans    Fr. 

common name(s) : Goliath Webcap 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Cortinariaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Cortinariales/Cortinariaceae/Cortinarieae [sub-genus:Phlegmacium]  

synonyms: Phlegmacium praestans, Cortinarius berkeleyi, Cortinarius variicolor-herculaneus 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Cortinarius praestens)  

edibility : discard

photo gallery of Cortinarius praestans
photo gallery of Cortinarius praestans potential confusions with Cortinarius praestans toxicity of Cortinarius praestans genus Cortinarius  

The cap is brown to violaceous.

The stem is white to violaceous, bulbous, with a ring zone.

The flesh is pale purple, unchanging; its taste is mild; the odour is faint, pleasant; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are pale lilac then brown, adnate, crowded . The spore print is rusty brown. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, on a rather calcareous soil, with ash, beech, oak.

The fruiting period takes place from July to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 16 cm (between 5 and 30 cm)
  height of stem approximately 15 cm (between 5 and 25 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 40 mm (between 15 and 60 mm)

Distinctive features : Purple-brown cap, with a wrinkled margin and white veil remains; white to violet gills in the youth; stem with a non marginate bulbous base, white with a violaceous tinge; very large species

Cortinarius praestans is quite rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is quite rare, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Cortinarius praestans in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Cortinarius praestans in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18