Rachel Stepek · Forest Rainbow
The Appalachian spectrum
blue-violet · lavender · purple-pink · mauve · warm pink
Violet caps and edged shelves lead into lavender flowers, dusty mauve, coral pink, and the warm pink of Goat’s Rue.
Deep violet
Cortinarius violaceus
A broad violet cap shows its finely textured surface above a full upright stalk. A separate encounter shows a younger mushroom with a rounded cap. These are different observations, offering two views of the species rather than a growth sequence.
October · Needs ID in the reviewed record
Original observations: 2026-10-18 · 2026-10-18
Blue-violet
Cortinarius iodes
Rounded caps shift from misty lavender at the rims to blue-violet and smoky plum near their shallow centers. Moisture beads across the slick surfaces; turned over, one mushroom reveals crowded lilac-brown gills above crisp tan oak leaves.
August
Lilac · mauve · gray
Laccaria ochropurpurea
A fresh lilac cap stands beside layered gray rock at Laurel River Lake. Beneath its rim, broad mauve gills repeat the violet color in narrow shadows. The wider view makes the mushroom a small purple accent among stone, moss, and soil.
September · Laurel River Lake
View the iNaturalist observationViolet edges · brown · cream
Trichaptum biforme
Brown fans are traced with violet and cream along their wavy margins. The underside turns rough and lavender-brown, with tiny toothlike points catching the light. Across the fallen trunk, moss and lichen interrupt the overlapping bands.
September · Appalachian woods
View the iNaturalist observationCoral pink · rosy cream
Phlebia incarnata
Pink shelves curl away from dark bark, their ruffled edges warming toward cream. Close views show rosy surfaces and narrow shadows beneath the fans. Wider views follow the pink clusters along fallen wood among moss and woodland stems.
September · Appalachian woods
View the iNaturalist observations: September 23 · September 27 View the iNaturalist observation →Lavender-violet
Mimulus alatus
Clear violet flowers open into soft two-lipped trumpets, their nearly white throats marked by a faint wash of purple. Water beads on sharply toothed green leaves and square stems, with dark soil, wet stone, and the shaded seep close behind.
Research Grade
Soft lavender
Prunella vulgaris
Lavender flowers circle a short green spike, each bloom deepening from a white lower lip to a violet hood. Their small scalloped petals rise above broad, rain-marked leaves, rough stream stone, and the dark wet bank where the plant takes root.
August · Research Grade
View the iNaturalist observationWarm violet
Sabatia angularis
Warm violet flowers with a pink cast gather in loose stars among fern fronds and layered summer green. Five narrow petals open around a small yellow-green center, while the woodland leaves range from bright chartreuse to deep shadow behind them.
July · Research Grade
Dusty mauve
Eutrochium fistulosum
A tall burgundy-green stem carries long whorled leaves toward a cloud of dusty mauve flowers. The many fine florets soften into a pink haze against sunlit foliage, with darker tree trunks and a broad woodland canopy behind the plant.
July
Pink-purple
Kalmia latifolia
Clusters of shell-pink buds open into porcelain-white cups brushed with blush. Each flower is patterned with burgundy pockets and curved stamens, set sharply against glossy, nearly black-green leaves at the wooded edge.
May · Research Grade
Warm pink
Tephrosia virginiana
Pea-shaped flowers combine a creamy pink upper petal with a deeper rose keel, the warm color concentrated at the end of a slender stem. Fine hairs soften the many narrow leaflets to silvery green above dry grass and mottled woodland light.
May · Research Grade
Smoke mauve · cream
Ramaria fumigata
A coral-like body rises in smoke-soft mauve, its crowded rounded towers tipped with ivory cream. The cool color seems nearly neutral until it meets the vivid moss wrapped around the fallen wood.
August · Research Grade
View the iNaturalist observationPhotographs and field notes by Rachel Stepek · Field exploration with Nathan Stepek