Summary:
Subgenus Telamonia Section Bicolores. Important characters are a slender stem with a pointed base, the persistently violet color of base (contrasting with white veil girdles) and the shiny, very hygrophanous cap, (Brandrud). According to Moser(3), Cortinarius evernius is characterized by a dark brown cap when moist, a very pale cap color when faded, the initial purplish brown color of the rather broad and distant gills, the long violet stem that is normally cylindric to tapering, rarely slightly enlarged at the base. A variation of this species has a radish odor. Cortinarius evernius not easy to identify correctly. The description of Kauffman (and that from Stuntz(5) apparently derived mostly from it) are suspect because Moser(3) says a Kauffman collection from Colorado identified as C. evernius seems to belong to a different taxon.

Cap:
3-10cm across, (hemi-)spheric (often with a flattened disc), later normally slightly umbonate; very hygrophanous, red brown to purplish brown, margin sometimes with a bluish tinge, when dry very pale brown; smooth and shiny, often somewhat diffracted-scaly when old, margin a little fibrillose from veil, (Brandrud), 3-9cm across, dark umber brown drying beige-ocher to reddish ocher, (Moser(1)), 3-9cm across, conic then expanding to flat with umbo; hygrophanous, dark purplish brown drying much lighter, ocher; margin silky from veil remnants, (Phillips), 3-10cm across, conic to bell-shaped, becoming convex or obtusely umbonate to flat; markedly hygrophanous, violet or brown with a purple tinge when moist, quickly fading to vinaceous or reddish brown or paler; smooth, margin at first with white silkiness, (Arora), 3-10cm across, conic - bell-shaped, prominently umbonate when expanded, sometimes irregular or gibbous, margin incurved at first, soon wavy; hygrophanous, purple-fuscous to "brownish-vinaceous" (Ridgway(1) color), fading; silky in dry weather, margin silky at first but becoming bald, (Kauffman), 3-10cm across, convex or with low umbo; "sooty purplish to dark brownish lilac when moist, fading to pallid"; bald, appearing silky on drying, (Stuntz)

Flesh:
brownish in cap, pale violet in stem, (Brandrud), distinctly purple in stem especially toward base, (Phillips), thin; "at first violet or violet-tinged, but fading as it dries or ages", (Arora), thin; colored as cap or violaceous when moist, (Kauffman), same color as surface in cap and stem, (Stuntz)

Gills:
"moderately crowded, (frequently) broad"; (pale grayish brown to) purplish brown, (rarely with a violet tinge); edge more or less serrulate and pale, (Brandrud), broad; milky-coffee to umber-brown, (Moser(1)), adnexed, rather distant, very broad; dark purplish with white edges, then rusty red, (Phillips), "adnate or becoming notched, well-spaced"; "at first violet with whitish edges, but quickly fading to brown" and then darkening to cinnamon brown, (Arora), emarginate, adnate, rather distant, broad, ventricose, thickish; at first violaceous-purple then cinnamon-brown; the edge whitish, (Kauffman), broad, purplish violet when young, (Stuntz)

Stem:
5-15cm x 0.5-1.5cm, frequently narrowing at base; at first completely violet, then whitish, but persistently violet toward base; somewhat shiny, girdled or diffracted-scaly from veil (most easily observed when dry), (Brandrud), 8-15cm x 0.7-2cm, "violet with one to several white, transient veil rings", (Moser(1)), 8-15cm x 0.7-1.5cm, equal; purplish but "overlaid with a layer of whitish universal veil", (Phillips), 7-15(20)cm x 0.8-2cm, "equal or narrowed toward base, usually rather long and often extending deep into humus or moss"; pale to deep violet when fresh (darker in lower part), fading as it dries; not viscid, often covered with veil material at first, (Arora), 10-15(20)cm x 0.8-2cm, equal or narrowing toward base, solid and spongy, sometimes flexuous [wavy]; pale lavender to deep violet, more deeply colored at base; "marked by annular shreds of the violaceous, then whitish, universal veil over most of the surface", (Kauffman), 10-20cm x 0.6-1.8cm, equal or tapering at base; lavender at top, deep violet in lower part, with white veil remnants forming patches and ring-like bands, (Stuntz)

Veil:
white to yellowish white, making stem girdled or diffracted-scaly, (Brandrud), universal veil whitish or violet-tinged, forming fibrillose patches or zones on stem that may disappear when old, cortina whitish, often disappearing, (Arora), violaceous then whitish universal veil leaves annular shreds over most of stem surface, cortina whitish, fibrillose, fleeting, (Kauffman), "veil remnants violet at first, soon becoming white, and forming patches and ring-like bands", (Stuntz)

Odor:
indistinct (Brandrud), mild (Moser(3) for Washington collection), scented, possibly of radish, (Phillips), slightly that of radish, (Kauffman), radish (Stuntz), not radish-like (Moser(1) who however describes a var. fragrans (ined.) with a radish-like odor)

Taste:
sharp, disagreeable, (Stuntz), slight (Phillips), mild, unpleasant, (Breitenbach)

Microscopic spores:
spores 9-11 x 5-6.5 microns, elliptic, distinctly verrucose; gill edge with clavate sterile cells, (Brandrud), spores 8.7-11.3 x 5-6.5 microns, elliptic to almond-shaped, verrucose (finely warty) (Moser(3)), spores 9-11 x 5-6 microns (Moser(1)), spores 8-10 x 5-6 microns, elliptic, slightly roughened (Arora), spores 8-11 x 5-6 microns, elliptic, rough, (Phillips), spores 8-9.5(10) x 5-6 microns, elliptic, slightly rough, (Kauffman), spores 8.2-11 x 5-6.2 microns, elliptic, moderately to strongly verrucose, light ocher; basidia 4-spored, 38-40 x 9-10 microns, cylindric to clavate, with basal clamp connection; no pleurocystidia, marginal cells clavate, some septate, end cells 14-32 x 7-12 microns; cap cuticle of periclinal hyphae 4-8 microns wide, "light yellow to light brown and lightly encrusted", septa with clamp connections, (Breitenbach)

Spore deposit:
rusty brown (Arora), rusty red (Phillips)

Notes:
C. evernius is listed by Moser(3) for WA and by Kauffman for Washington and Oregon. It is reported from western AB by Kernaghan(1). There are 14 collections from BC at the University of British Columbia labeled Cortinarius evernius. Harrower(1) assigned a BC collection sequence 162 to Cortinarius evernius. There are two WA collections by J. Ammirati from 1985 and 1999 at the University of Washington labeled Cortinarius evernius and Cort. (Tel.) "evernius" respectively. Also at the University of Washington are several AJ collections labeled as Cortinarius evernius. C. evernius is also found in central Europe and Fennoscandia, (Kernaghan(1)). Liimatainen(11) found that a Swedish neotype matched with collections from QC and Norway.

EDIBILITY

not edible (Phillips)