Pig's ear or Wood blewit

Fruiting body funnel-shaped or spatula-like, 4-15 cm tall and wide, with an uneven wavy or deeply cleft edge. It often grows as a cluster of “ears” fused on a common base. Upper surface color: young ones are violet-lilac, turning purplish brown to brown with age; the center is darker, the edge paler. The surface is smooth, faintly shiny in wet weather and matte in dry.

Cap 5-15 cm across, when young convex with an inrolled margin, becoming with age flat and spreading. The cap skin is smooth, slightly slimy in wet weather, dry and matte in dry weather. Color vivid violet or lilac-violet when young, less often with a pink tint; with age it fades to brownish-violet, then to brownish-cream with violet traces at the margin. The margin is even, inrolled when young.

The hymenophore is not gilled and not tubed — it consists of folds and wrinkles running down the “stem”, uneven, forked and blunt (like a chanterelle's but coarser). Color violet-lilac to purplish brown, paler than the top of the cap. Spore print yellowish ocher.

Gilled hymenophore — the gills are adnate or slightly decurrent, very crowded, thin. Color distinctly violet-lilac when young, brownish-violet to brownish-cream with age, with a greenish-pink tint when mature. Spore print pale pink to creamy pink — characteristic of the genus Lepista.

There is no separate stem — the fruiting body is one piece, funnel-shaped. The lower part narrows into a sterile base 2-5 cm high, the color of the hymenophore or slightly paler.

Stem 5-10 cm tall, 1.5-3 cm thick, firm, fleshy, cylindrical, thickening toward the base. Color violet to lilac-violet, often paler lower down, with whitish mycelium at the base. The surface is smooth with fine lengthwise fibers. No ring.

The flesh is whitish to yellowish, firm in young ones, fibrous in old ones. It doesn't change color when cut. It has a pleasant, mild taste.

Flesh firm; thin in the cap, thick in the stem, violet-whitish to pale lilac. Doesn't change color when cut or slowly fades to grayish-violet. Smell pleasant, sweetish and perfumed, reminiscent of lilac or violet, with a hint of anise, taste sweet at first, then mildly mushroomy.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy smell, sometimes with a fruity note. The taste is mild, with nothing sharp.

A distinct, pleasant, sweetish-perfumed smell — reminiscent of lilac, violet or a touch of anise. A helpful clue, but not a decisive one: the violet webcap smells faintly of cedar, and some lilac webcaps (Cortinarius camphoratus, C. traganus) smell strong and unpleasant. So check the smell together with the spore print colour.