| Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Lactarius > Lactarius subvellereus var. subdistans |
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Lactarius subvellereus var. subdistans [ Basidiomycetes > Russulales > Russulaceae > Lactarius . . . ] by Michael Kuo Among the many white milky caps in eastern North America, Lactarius subvellereus can be recognized by the velvety feel of its cap and stem, the ever-so-slightly yellowing milk, the brown spotting gills, and the acrid taste. The cap does not develop brownish scales like the cap of Lactarius deceptivus, and the gills are not extremely crowded like those of Lactarius piperatus. Charles Peck first described Lactarius subvellereus from Alabama, in 1898; he considered it distinct from the European species Lactarius vellereus, which discolors brownish and features mild milk (when tasted separately from the flesh). Peck's species had crowded gills; Hesler and Smith (1979) named Lactarius subvellereus var. subdistans to account for collections with well spaced gills. The vellereus-like species of Lactarius are obviously ripe for contemporary investigation. Lactarius subvellereus var. subdistans is not recommended by most authors, and its yellowing milk takes it out of consideration for me (several species with yellowing milk are poisonous). Do not experiment. Description: Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods (primarily with oaks); summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains. Cap: 4-15 cm; convex with an inrolled margin at first; becoming flat or shallowly depressed; dry; finely velvety; whitish; consistently without concentric zones of color or texture. Gills: Attached to the stem or beginning to run down it; distant or nearly so; whitish, becoming yellowish; bruising and spotting brownish. Stem: 2-5 cm long; up to 3.5 cm thick; more or less equal; dry; finely velvety; without potholes; whitish; sometimes bruising brownish. Flesh: White; changing to yellowish when sliced. Milk: White; changing to yellow or yellowish (often only very slightly) on exposure; staining the gills brownish to pinkish brown; staining white paper yellow. Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste strongly acrid. Spore Print: White. Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface pinkish to pale magenta. Dried Specimens: Cap and stem buff white, finely velvety; gills cinnamon. Microscopic Features: Spores 7.5-9 x 5-7 µ; broadly elliptical; ornamentation as isolated warts under .5 µ high; connecting lines absent. Pleurocystidia up to 80 x 8 µ; subfusoid. REFERENCES: Hesler & Smith, 1979. (Hesler & Smith, 1979; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Phillips, 1991/2005; McNeil, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 09029515, 08050304, 07150704. Lactarius subvellereus var. subvellereus Peck has narrow, close gills. Further Online Information: Lactarius subvellereus var. subdistans in Hesler & Smith (1979) |
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Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2007, September). Lactarius subvellereus var. subdistans. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lactarius_subvellereus_subdistans.html |