Unknown Lactarius sp.

[alexhitchmough]

Hello, I'm really stuck on this Lactarius sp, nothing in Philips or Jordan appear to fit, but I'm probably over looking it as usual



Habitat: Growing on grass at the roadside with Silver Birch. Group of 4 specimens
Milk: Sparse, very hot/peppery, very pale cream, no change on tissue
Cap: 8cm, pale yellow/orange, funnel shaped, not folded, sort of a furry layered top, inrolled thin edge
Flesh : Thick, brittle
Gills: Adnexed, crowded, light buff colour
Stem: 14 x 30mm, light buff colour, straight
Base: Simple
Spores: B-C, pale straw, 5x7µm ovoid, many blunt warts 0.8µm high

Any ideas?
thanks in advance,
Alex

[watsthat]

Hi Alex...

Not L. torminosus then?

Pete

[alexhitchmough]

Hi Pete,

L. torminosus is on my list of possibilities but my specimen didn't have a salmon pink/buff cap. Could it have washed out?

Also the gills were adnexed rather than slightly decurrent.

Every other detail appears to match though

thanks again
Alex

[NickCantle]

Lactarius caps do tend to fade and become rather colourless.

[watsthat]

Hello again Alex

Heres one of mine from the last weekend, I think its L. torminosus but couldn`t see any concentric rings on the top of the cap. Even though the rain had tended to flatten the wooly effect of the cap, there was still evidence esp round the edge. Is the wooly effect diagnostic? I haven`t reached the microscope stage yet, isn`t your microscopy conclusive? My specimens were very prolific under one particular birch tree but nowhere else in the area. Pretty little things they were too



Cheers

Pete

[fairplay]

Hi Pete,

Yours is Lactarius pubescens, always paler than L.torminosus.

Neil.

[fairplay]

Alex,

Hi there, at face value your does indeed look like L.torminosus furthermore, assuming 5 divisions = 8microns, by placing a set of calipers against the spores on my computer screen and comparing with your scale they come perfectly within the given range for L.torminosus.

Neil.

[alexhitchmough]

Thanks Pete & Neil.

Everything appears to be pointing at L.torminosus apart from the gills being adnexed. How significant is this?

I'll drive past the spot tomorrow and see if there are any more specimens to confirm this.

[fairplay]

Fungi of Switzerland describe the gills as being 'sub-decurrent' i.e. between decurrent and adnexed - it's all down to an individuals interpretation really.

Neil.

[alexhitchmough]

I was lucky enough to find a few more of these today, and I'd agree that sub-decurrent would be a good description of the gills, so I think we can safely declare this as Lactarius torminosus a.k.a Woolly Milkcap.

Thanks again!