Russula virescens

[ Basidiomycetes > Russulales > Russulaceae > Russula . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Russula virescens has a beautiful green cap that breaks up into patches, creating a quilt-like pattern. The similar Russula crustosa also has a quilted cap, but its colors are usually more brownish, yellowish, or buff than the decidedly green shades of Russula virescens. Anyway, confusing the two mushrooms is no tragedy in terms of edibility; they are both very good (better than most Russula species!). If you are determined to distinguish between the two species, see my comments below.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods; growing alone or gregariously; summer; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains (and probably in those areas of the Southwest where "eastern" mushrooms occur), and reported from Montana.

Cap: 5-15 cm; round to convex when young, becoming broadly convex to flat to uplifted with a shallow depression; dry; sometimes slightly velvety; soon cracking up into patches; green, with lighter shades mixed in; margin not lined to very slightly lined.

Gills: Attached to nearly free from the stem; close or crowded; white to cream.

Stem: 3-9 cm long; 2-4 cm thick; white; brittle; dry; smooth.

Flesh: White; brittle; thick.

Taste: Mild; odor not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-9 x 6-7 µ; with warts to 0.5 µ high; elliptical to nearly round; cystidia infrequent.

REFERENCES: Fries, 1836. (Kauffman, 1918; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005.) Herb. Kuo 06279502, 08300203.

Russula crustosa has a cap that is usually more brown (often with orange and yellow shades thrown in), a pale orange-yellow spore print; spores 5.5-10 x 4.5-7.8 µ with warts 0.2-0.3 µ high, and abundant cystidia on the gill faces. To be honest, the spore differences are not significant, and subtle variations in spore print color are not, in my experience, very informative for Russula or Lactarius--so we are left with the cystidia and the color of the cap to separate these mushrooms.

Further Online Information:

Russula virescens at Fungi of Poland
Russula virescens at Roger's Mushrooms

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2005, January). Russula virescens. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/russula_virescens.html