Brittlegills (Russula)
- Found on the ground (mycorrhizal)
- Wide range of colors → have a water-soluble color that sometimes looks mottled or faded
- Brittle gills that flake off easily when brushed
- Stubby stalks, which break off like chalk
Fishbiscuit Russula (Russula compacta)
Purple-bloom Russula (Russula mariae)
Blue-green Cracking Russula (Russula parvovirescens)
Milkcaps (Lactarius & Lactifluus)
- Found on the ground (mycorrhizal)
- Bleed “milk” when cut → latex-like substance which might be used to deter herbivory
Yellowdrop Milkcap (Lactarius chrysorrheus)
Yellow-latex Milkcap (Lactarius vinaceorufescens)
Candycap (Lactarius camphoratus)
Hygrophorus Milkcap (Lactifluus hygrophoroides)
Weeping Milkcap (Lactifluus volemus)
Indigo Milk Cap (Lactarius indigo)
Chocolate Milky (Lactarius lignyotus group)
Brittlegills (Russula)
Fishbiscuit Russula (Russula compacta)
Purple-bloom Russula (Russula mariae)
Blue-green Cracking Russula (Russula parvovirescens)
Milkcaps (Lactarius & Lactifluus)
Candycap (Lactarius camphoratus)
- Notes: also called Curry Milkcap, Aromatic Milky; on the smaller side for milkys but the cap can be
- Habitat & Ecology: mycorrhizal; on the ground; conifer or deciduous woods, especially Hemlock; [season]
- Cap: small, up to 2” in diameter; conical to convex to a sunken center, often with a knob; smooth; entire margin; reddish-brown, darker at the center; dry
- Gills: broadly attached or decurrent; crowded to close; pale shade of cap and stem (pink-cinnamon, cream-colored)
- Stem: ⅛” to ⅝” diameter; reddish brown; hoary and with coarse, stiff hairs at the base; dry
- Flesh: watery white latex; strongly sweet; burnt sugar, maple syrup, curry – up to interpretation
- Spore print: white
- Look-alikes: The common name applies to a few different species. The only other one found east of the Rockies, Lactarius fragilis, also smells sweet but has yellow gills and is mostly found farther South.
Hygrophorus Milkcap (Lactifluus hygrophoroides)
- Notes:
- Habitat & Ecology: mycorrhizal; on the ground, in moss, or sandy soil along streams and rivers; deciduous and mixed forests, especially under oaks; summer and early fall
- Cap: convex to flat with a depression; smooth and sometimes velvety or wrinkled; incurved at first and uplifted with age; peach tones – orange, pink, tan; dry
- Gills: broadly attached to subdecurrent; distantly spaced; cross-veined; creamy white to pale yellow
- Stem: equal; orange-brown; smooth and solid; dry
- Flesh: copious white latex, not staining
- Spore print: white
- Look-alikes: Weeping Milk Cap (Lactifluus volemus) has crowded gills, latex that stains brown, and a fishy odor.
Weeping Milkcap (Lactifluus volemus)
- Notes: also called Tawny, Orange, Bradley, or Leatherback Milkcap
- Habitat & Ecology: mycorrhizal; in lawns or humus or moss; deciduous or mixed forests, especially under oaks; summer to early fall
- Cap: convex to plano-convex to flat with a depression; smooth, velvety – concentrically wrinkled; entire margin, incurved at first; orange to a duller orange-brown, there is a variety of this species which is overall lighter in color as well; dry
- Gills: broadly attached to subdeccurent; crowded; can range from white to yellow or cream-colored
- Stem: equal; slightly paler color than the cap; smooth; dry
- Flesh: latex white and copious, staining brown; fishy smell
- Spore print: white
- Look-alikes: Hygrophorus Milkcap (Lactifluus hygrophoroides) has more distant gills and the milk does not stain.
Indigo Milk Cap (Lactarius indigo)
- Notes:
- Habitat & Ecology: mycorrhizal; on the ground; deciduous and coniferous forest, associated with oaks and pines; summer and fall
- Cap: convex to flat and depressed; smooth surface; margin inrolled at first; indigo-blue, fading to grey-blue, and coloring is zoned; viscid
- Gills: broadly attached to decurrent; close; blue, fading or bruising to green
- Stem: equal or tapering to base; colored as cap; smooth; viscid becoming dry
- Flesh: blue latex!; flesh turns blue when but, becoming greenish; smell not distinctive
- Spore print: cream to yellow
- Look-a-likes: No look-a-likes, blue latex tells all!
Chocolate Milky (Lactarius lignyotus group)
- Notes: quite a few varieties
- Habitat & Ecology: mycorrhizal; in humus or moss; coniferous forests; summer to fall
- Cap: convex to flat, often depressed or knobbed (sometimes a sharp point); velvety; radially wrinkled; black-brown to yellow-brown; dry
- Gills: broadly attached to decurrent; crowded to subdistant; white or yellowish
- Stem: equal; colored as the cap, white as the base; minutely velvet; dry
- Flesh: white staining pinkish (slow to change); latex white drying pink and staining paper brown; smell not distinctive
- Spore print: white to orange-yellow
- Look-alikes:
- Lactarius lignyotus var. canadensis
- Brown “marginate” gills – the gill edges are colored differently than the faces
- Described in Michigan, reported under spruce in bogs
- Lactarius lignyotus var. nigroviolascens
- Flesh stains dark violet rather than pink or reddish
- Gills are not marginate
- Reported in humus or on sphagnum, in hemlock bogs
- Lactarius lignyotus var. marginatus
- Dark violet staining flesh + brown-marginate gills
- Reported in bogs
- Lactarius lignyotellus
- Brown-marginate gills do not stain at all
- Associated with Red Spruce, Fraser fir, and Hemlock farther south (NC, VA, TN, WV)
- Lactarius lignyotus var. canadensis