Blewit

• Lepista (Clitocybe) saeva (field) or nuda(wood) – wood blewits can grow on grassland too

• The name ‘ blewit ‘ – is an Old English contraction for ‘Blue Hat’
• Their gills and stem are the same colour as their cap – bluish lilac – and they drop lilac or pink coloured spores.
• The lilac blue cap turns brownish with age
• The blewit is edible when cooked and has a strong perfume a little like aniseed. It can be made into a dye which gives a grass-green colour.
• It grows in the long grass on Cowbar, usually in groups or a ‘fairy ring’ as the mycelium grow outwards from a central point underground, searching for more nutrients.
• Many cultures consider fairy rings to be the portal between fairy and mortal worlds and a dangerous place for humans… 
• They appear in late autumn / early winter when the temperature drops below 17 degrees and can survive frost.