| Genus | Species | Common Name | Group | Data | Next Section after CAP | Next Section after LATEX | Next Section after GILLS | Next Section after STALK | Next Section after VEIL | Next Section after HABITAT | Next Section after EDIBILITY | Next Section after SPORE_PRINT | Next Section after COMMENTS | Next Section after N/A |
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| Lactarius | deliciosus | Delicious Milk Cap | No | CAP 5-16 cm broad, broadly convex or with a depressed center and an inrolled margin when young, becoming depressed or shallowly funnel-shaped; surface viscid when moist but soon dry, smooth, often zoned; color variable: dull orange to carrot-orange or orange- brown, sometimes blotched with or entirely green; fading in age or dry weather to brownish, gray, dull greenish-gray, or even yellowish; margin inrolled when young. Flesh thick, brittle, orange to yellowish or greenish; taste mild or slightly bitter. LATEX very scanty, bright carrot-orange (but in some forms slowly staining dark red when exposed), eventually staining wounded or aged tissue greenish (within 5 hours). GILLS typically bright to dull orange, but varying to yellowish or orange-buff, greenish where wounded; adnate to decurrent, close. STALK 2-7 cm long, 1-2.5 cm thick, equal or narrowed at base, soon dry, sometimes scrobiculate; rigid, hollow inage, frequently maggot-riddled, colored like cap or paler. SPORE_PRINT creamy yellowish-buff; spores 7-11 x 6-8 microns, broadly elliptical to nearly round, with amyloid ridges. HABITAT Scattered to gregarious or in troops under conifers (pine, spruce, etc.), common and widely distributed. It is abundant in our coastal pine forests in the late fall and winter, generally after the major crop of look-alike L. rubrilacteus. EDIBILITY Edible, but not necessarily delicious. Several varieties or forms occur and some are apparently better than others. Special treatment is required to overcome the grainy texture and latent bitterness. Its abundance and distinctiveness, however, make experimentation worthwhile. Some sources recommend slow cooking (e.g., baked in a casserole), others insist it should be cooked rapidly in a frying pan with very little butter. It is popular in Europe, and the Russians are fanatical about it-especially salted. COMMENTS This variable, cosmopolitan fungus strikes a discordant but colorful note with its unlikely combination of pistachio-green and carrot-orange-even more so when found in the company of the bright red Russula rosacea, as is so often the case in our area. The carrot-colored latex separates it from L. rubrilacteus, and confusion with other mushrooms is unlikely. The latex is so scanty as to often be non-existent, but the brittle flesh and greenish stains on the cap, stalk, and! or gills will identify it. The fruiting bodies persist for a long time and are often completely hollowed out by maggots. Several varieties of L. deliciosus have been described based on slight differences in color, staining reactions, and microscopic characteristics; one variety tends to have an areolate (scaly-cracked) cap in age. The Greeks were apparently fond of L. deliciosus, for it is depicted on a fresco from Herculaneum (buried in 79 A.D.). Other species: L. thyinos, of northern bogs, has carrot- orange latex but stains red, not green; in other respects it is quite similar. L. salmoneus is a smallish but distinctive southeastern species with a whitish cap, bright orange gills, flesh, and stalk (when fresh) and orange to salmon-orange latex. L. pseudodeliciosus is buff or dingy colored with yellow-orange to rusty-orange latex. All ofthese are edible and the latter two stain greenish in age or where wounded. | LATEX | GILLS | STALK | SPORE_PRINT | N/A | EDIBILITY | COMMENTS | HABITAT | N/A | N/A |
| Lactarius | rubrilacteus | Bleeding Milk Cap | No | CAP 4-14 cm broad, broadly convex with a depressed center and inrolled margin when young, depressed or shallowly funnel-shaped in age; surface viscid when moist, smooth, reddish-brown to orange, orange-brown, or tan, or often concentrically zoned with these colors; duller and greenish-stained in age. Flesh thick, brittle, brownish to buff, reddish, etc.; taste mild or slightly bitter. LATEX scanty, dark red (but occasionally orange-red in old specimens), slowly staining wounded areas greenish. GILLS adnate to slightly decurrent, close, reddish or dull purplish-red, or tan with a dark reddish sheen; greenish where wounded. STALK 2-6 cm long, 1-2.5 cm thick, equal or narrowed below, firm, rigid, hollow, colored like cap or paler, sometimes scrobiculate. SPORE_PRINT pale yellowish or buff; spores 7.5-10 )( 6-8 microns, broadly elliptical to nearly round, with amyloid ridges. HABITAT Scattered or in large troops under conifers throughout the West; associated in our area with Douglas-fir and abundant in the fall and early winter. Where pines pre- dominate it is largely supplanted by L. deliciosus, and where pine and Douglas-fir grow together, the two milk caps often mingle. In Europe, L. sanguifluus (which may be the same as L. rubrilacteus) is mycorrhizal with pine. EDIBILITY Edible, but not pleasing to everyone because of its granular texture; usually better, however, than L. deliciosus (see comments on edibility of that species). COMMENTS The dark red latex is the telltale trait of this handsome fungus, which for many years has been known to fungophiles as L. sanguifluus. In dry or very wet weather the latex may be absent, but in these conditions the greenish stains are usually quite pronounced. In fact, as with L. deliciosus, weathered fruiting bodies may be entirely green, and mature specimens often have tiny, aborted green "buttons" at their bases. Be sure not to confuse this species with the similarly colored L. vinaceorufescens and L. chrysorheus-they often grow with L. rubrilacteus, but have a white latex that quickly turns yellow. Other species: L. barrows;; has dark red latex, but its cap is much paler (whitish to pinkish-brown) and it occurs mainly with ponderosa pine. Another similar edible species, L. subpurpureus of eastern North America, has wine-red latex and a wine- red to silvery cap, and favors hemlock. See also L. paradoxus(under L. indigo). | LATEX | GILLS | STALK | SPORE_PRINT | N/A | EDIBILITY | COMMENTS | HABITAT | N/A | N/A |
| Lactarius | indigo | Indigo Milk Cap | No | CAP 4-15 cm broad, convex or centrally depressed with an inrolled margin when young, usually depressed in age; surface smooth, viscid when moist, then dry; indigo-blue when fresh but fading to grayish- or silvery-blue, sometimes with greenish stains; often zoned concentrically. Flesh pallid to bluish, brittle, slowly staining greenish; taste mild to slightly bitter-acrid. LATEX indigo-blue (bright dark blue), scanty, slowly staining wounded tissue greenish. GILLS adnate to slightly decurrent, close, indigo-blue becoming paler in age. STALK 2-6 cm long, 1-2.5 cm thick, indigo-blue to silvery- or grayish-blue, equal or narrowed at base, rigid, hollow in age, soon dry. SPORE_PRINT creamy-yellowish; spores 7 -9 )( 5.5-7.5 microns, elliptical to nearly round, with amyloid warts and ridges. HABITAT Scattered to gregarious in summer and fall, mostly in oak and pine woods; found throughout soutt-.ern and eastern North America, but most common along the Gulf Coast and in Mexico. I have found it in Arizona under ponderosa pine. If it should turn up in southern California it would certainly be a most welcome addition to our fungus flora. EDIBILITY Edible and very good-superior, at least, to the other greenish-staining milk caps, such as L. deliciosus. In Mexico it is sometimes sold in farmer's markets. COMMENTS The overall blue to blue-gray color and bright blue latex make this one of the safest and most memorable of all agarics. No other milk cap has blue latex, let alone a bluish fruiting body. Other species: L. paradoxus, common under pine in eastern North America (especially the South), often has a bluish-tinged cap when young, but has reddish- brown to purple-brown latex and gills. Another species, L. chel;don;um, has a yellowish to dingy yellow-brown to bluish-gray cap and yellowish to brown latex "the color of grasshopper juice." It occurs commonly in the eastern United States and Southwest. L. hem;cyaneus is a medium-sized to large species which usually has bluish flesh in the cap and orange to red-orange flesh in the base of the stalk. It may possibly occur in southern California, according to Greg Wright and Paul Harding. All of the above species are edible despite their tendency to stain green in age. | LATEX | GILLS | STALK | SPORE_PRINT | N/A | EDIBILITY | COMMENTS | HABITAT | N/A | N/A |
| Camarophyllus | borealis | Snowy Waxy Cap | No | CAP 1-5 cm broad, convex or obtusely umbonate, often expanding in age to plane or depressed; surface smooth, moist or lubricous but not viscid, watery white to dull white. Flesh thin, soft, white, odor mild. GILLS usually decurrent, well-spaced, thick, soft, somewhat waxy; white. STALK 2-9 cm long, 2-5 (8) mm thick, equal or tapering down- ward, smooth, firm, dry, often curved or sinuous, white. VEIL absent. SPORE_PRINT white; spores 7-9 (12»( 4.5-6.5 microns, elliptical, smooth. Gill tissue interwoven. HABITAT Scattered or in groups on ground and humus in woods or at their edges, widely distributed. In our area this species and its relatives C. virgineus and C. niveus (see com- ments) are fairly common throughout the mushroom season, but seldom occur in the large numbers typical of Hygrophorus eburneus. The best fruitings usually occur in the winter, often in relatively dry weather. EDIBILITY Edible but fleshless, flavorless, and savorless. COMMENTS Also known as Hygrophorus borealis, this is one of several rather small, whitish waxy caps with a dry to slightly viscid (not slimy) cap. slender non-viscid stalk, and interwoven gill tissue. Others include: C. niveus, common. cap slightly viscid and slightly striate when moist; C. virgineus, especially common in California. cap dry and usually tinged yellow in age or dry weather. and spores 8-12 microns long; C. angustiJolius, dull white with spores 5-8 microns long; C. cremicolor, with pale yellow gills when young; and three species with parallel gill hyphae and non-decurrent gills: Hygrocybe subaustrali- ga, small, cap scarcely viscid, gills notched or adnexed, fairly common; H. albinella. cap white and conical at first, stalk dry. rare; and H.fornicata. with a grayish-tinged viscid cap. All ofthese have been placed in Hygrophorus. None have the slimycapand stalk of Hygro- phorus eburneus. Alboleptonia sericella and Inocybe geophylla can be similar but have pinkish and brown spores respectively. See also the undescribed Marasmius on p. 206. | GILLS | N/A | STALK | VEIL | SPORE_PRINT | EDIBILITY | COMMENTS | HABITAT | N/A | N/A |
| Camarophyllus | russocoriaceus | Cedar Waxy Cap | No | CAP 1-3 (5) cm broad. convex to plane or slightly umbonate to slightly depressed; surface smooth, not viscid. white or often tinged pale tan to yellowish. especially at the center. Flesh whitish, thin; odor fragrant when fresh (like arborvitae or cedar). GILLS well-spaced, usually decurrent. thick, slightly waxy, white or whitish. STALK 3-10 cm long, 2-5 (8) mm thick, equal or tapered downward. often long in relation to cap; dry, smooth, colored more or less like cap, often curved or sinuous. VEIL absent. SPORE_PRINT white; spores 6.5-9)( 4-6 microns, elliptical, smooth. Gill tissue interwoven. HABITAT Widely scattered or in small groups in woods or at their edges, known only from the west coast (in addition to Europe). Common in our area in the fall and winter, especially at higher elevations in the coastal mountains, but rarely in large numbers. EDIBILITY Not recommended-it has a slightly medicinal flavor, at least raw. COMMENTS The piquant cedarlike odor distinguishes this plain-looking waxy cap from C. borealis and other look-alikes. Other species: Hygrophoruspusillusisasomewhat similar species with a viscid cap that is usually tinged cream or pale brownish-flesh-color. I t has a slight fragrant odor, divergent to nearly parallel gill tissue, and occurs in groups or troops under conifers in northern California and the Pacific Northwest. | | | | | | | | | | |
