Xanthoconium purpureum

Photograph by T. J. Baroni ©1998

Of all the members of the genus Xanthoconium, this is the one with the greatest variability in color--from deep, purplish red to maroon and reddish brown or pale brown with only a hint of red. Its pileipellis and stipe react blue-green with ammonia, a reaction shared by Xanthoconium separans (Peck) Halling & Both.