Suede/Velvety Cap Fungus for ID Help Please

[Lancashire Lad]

Found these yesterday growing together, directly from soil, in a mossy area of woodland. (Predominantly Beech - Fagus).

Not making any headway at all in trying to identify, as I can't find anything that seems to compare with the caps of these.

All three caps were matt brown, very suede like, almost velvety. (They actually had the feel of a suede-like material ).
Largest specimen about 35mm tall, with similar cap diameter.




Any help towards ID gratefully received.

Regards,
Mike.

[kiltoncomp]

Hi Mike,
have you thought about Tricholoma ? it has that look about it to me, could be totally wrong, but worth a look at ?

Brian.

[ManwithNoname]

Did they produce any milk where damaged?

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by ManwithNoname

Did they produce any milk where damaged?

Hi, ManwithNoname. - No, these didn't produce any milk at all. (and just a mildly mushroomy smell, nothing very distinctive).

Regards,
Mike.

[ManwithNoname]

They look like they are milk caps in section Plinthogali, which all have brownish colours and the flesh stains pink with the milk. If they were dry, they might not have been producing much milk.

But look at the photo of the upturned specimen and the edge of the gills close to the stem. Are there a couple of drops of latex there?

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by kiltoncomp

Hi Mike,
have you thought about Tricholoma ? it has that look about it to me, could be totally wrong, but worth a look at ?

Brian.

Hi Brian,
I've looked at the Tricholomas in Jordan & Phillips, but nothing seems to be near what these look like.

Regards,
Mike.

[ManwithNoname]

They aren't Tricholoma sp.

A quick look at the spores would have confirmed whether they were Lactarius but that would be my guess, though which species I couldn't say without more information. Perhaps they are a little bit too dark brown for Lactarius fuliginosus.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by ManwithNoname

....But look at the photo of the upturned specimen and the edge of the gills close to the stem. Are there a couple of drops of latex there?

Certainly didn't see any milk appearing when handling at the time, but I see what you mean. (at just left of 12 o'clock position).

I've just looked at the original full size photo, and can't decide from that whether it is latex or just a slight colour abberation on the gills, although the two spots do appear more-or-less circular in shape.

I can't be sure. - (In the way that I am certain that latex is definitely appearing on the Ugly/Beech Milkcap thread I posted earlier today).

Once again, my lack of experience in the field. - If I had actually pulled the cap apart, it would more than likely have proved the presence/absence of latex.

Regards,
Mike.

[mollisia]

Hello,

this fungus is for sure one of the Lactarius species from section Plinthogali. As it has a dark stipe, there are four species left:
fuliginosus, lignyotus, picinus and romagnesii.
Pterosporus and ruginosus ss. HEILMAN-CLAUSEN et al. have not so dark stipes and caps, azonites and acris have nearly white stipes.

From the four taxa mentioned, we can rule out L. lignyotus (because of the missing ribs on the stipe apec) and L. romagnesii (because the gills are too crowded and the cap margin is not rugulouse).
From the other two, picinus is the one which matches macroscopically perfect (stout fruitbodies, very dark and velvety cap), but fuliginosus matches better ecologically (mycorrhiza with decidous trees).
So the question is, whether picinus may also grow with Fagus. Fuliginosus is occuring with broadleave trees, but as I have been shown this species it is much more slender and was growing (in Scandinavia) with Populus and Betula, not with Fagus.

In my opinion this is L. picinus, despite the probably unusual mycorrhizal partner. Upt o now I have found it only on acid soil except one collection on calcareous soil, but may be on soil surface acid.

best regards,
Andreas

[ManwithNoname]

Originally Posted by mollisia

In my opinion this is L. picinus, despite the probably unusual mycorrhizal partner. Upt o now I have found it only on acid soil except one collection on calcareous soil, but may be on soil surface acid.

best regards,
Andreas

I agree visually Lactarius picinus looks right. But the fact that this species is not authentically British means that you would need a lot of evidence to prove the identification.