| Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Lactarius > Lactarius repraesentaneus |
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Lactarius repraesentaneus [ Basidiomycetes > Russulales > Russulaceae > Lactarius . . . ] by Michael Kuo I can't imagine mistaking this mushroom for anything else. Found under conifers (usually spruces) in northern and montane areas, it has a slimy, hairy, yellow cap that contrasts nicely with the purple bruises and stains created by handling the mushroom or damaging the gills. When fresh it has a distinctive, fragrant odor. Lactarius repraesentaneus is reportedly poisonous. Description: Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers (principally with spruces; in the Rocky Mountains it is fond of Engelmann Spruce); summer and fall; northern and montane North America. Cap: 4-20 cm; convex with an incurved margin when young, becoming flat, shallowly depressed, or shallowly vase-shaped; slimy; hairy--especially at the margin, which is "bearded" when the mushroom is young; pale to dark yellow, usually without concentric zones of color; often bruising lilac to purple when handled. Gills: Attached to the stem or running down it; close; whitish at first, becoming yellowish or orangish; stained lilac to purple by the milk where damaged. Stem: 5-12 cm long; up to 4 cm thick; more or less equal, or slightly club-shaped; slimy when fresh; usually with potholes; whitish or colored like the cap; bruising and discoloring lilac to purple. Flesh: White; changing to lilac when sliced. Milk: White; copious; staining tissues lilac to purple. Odor and Taste: Odor fragrant or not distinctive; taste usually bitter to acrid, but sometimes mild. Spore Print: Creamy or yellowish. Microscopic Features: Spores 8-12 x 6.5-9 µ; broadly elliptical; ornamentation with prominences under 1 µ high; connecting lines not forming reticula, or forming partial to complete reticula. Pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia fusoid; up to 120 x 15 µ. Pileipellis an ixocutis. "Lactarius representaneus" is an alternative spelling. REFERENCES: Britzelmayr, 1885. (Saccardo, 1887; Hesler & Smith, 1979; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; States, 1990; Lincoff, 1992; Evenson, 1997; Leuthy, 1997; Heilmann-Clausen et al., 1998; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Further Online Information: Lactarius repraesentaneus in Hesler & Smith (1979) |
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Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2007, September). Lactarius repraesentaneus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lactarius_repraesentaneus.html |