Lamellar hat-foot mushroom with a cobwebbed bedspread. The cap of adult mushrooms reaches 1-8 cm in diameter, in young mushrooms it is hemispherical to conical, then opens to flat, in the center with a noticeable tubercle or without it. The surface is silky-fibrous, red-brown, sometimes with an orange or blood-red tint, along the edge with noticeable red remains of the bedspread. Gimenophore plates adorned with a tooth to the peduncle are rich blood red in young mushrooms, then, when the spores mature, olive-brown and rust-brown.
Cortina is blood red.
The flesh in the hat is pinkish, in the leg is buffy or pinkish-red, with an unpleasant odor, described as rare or iodoform .
The stalk reaches 3–8 cm in length and 0.5–1.2 cm in thickness, cylindrical or expanding downward, with a silky-fibrous ocher-yellow to reddish-brown surface, with noticeable blood-red remains of a cortina, often in the form of belts . The mycelium at the base of the stem is pinkish.
The spore imprint is rusty brown. Spores 6-10 × 3.5-6 microns, elliptical, with an uneven surface. Chailocystids are club-shaped.
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The closest species is the red plate cobweb ( Cortinarius semisanguineus ( Fr. ) Gillet , 1876 ), characterized by a yellow-brown hat and the absence of fiery red belts and fibers on the leg.
It is inedible due to the unpleasant taste of the mushroom. Some related species are highly toxic, however, the content of toxins dangerous to humans in the purple cobweb is not confirmed, cases of poisoning are not known.
Widely distributed in the Holarctic zone of Eurasia and North America. It grows in coniferous and deciduous forests from mid-summer to autumn.
