About

The amethyst deceiver can be seen growing in broadleaved and coniferous woodlands among the leaf litter. It is edible, but is similar in appearance to the poisonous Lilac fibrecap; indeed, never pick and eat fungi that can you cannot positively identify. Fungi belong to their own kingdom and get their nutrients and energy from organic matter, rather than photosynthesis like plants. It is often just the fruiting bodies, or 'mushrooms', that are visible to us, arising from an unseen network of tiny filaments called 'hyphae'. These fruiting bodies produce spores for reproduction, although fungi can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation.