Hot Orange Lactarius     Section

This is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.

Flesh without fibers, fracturing with the same sort of break as a piece of chalk
Spore and gill color limited to white, yellow, or ochre
Mycorrhizal: occuring only on the ground, and only when there are trees nearby
No ring or volva on stalk
All fleshy-stemmed mushrooms whose gills exude a latex when cut go here

Fruiting bodies (especially the gills) exuding a liquid (called a latex) when broken
Stalk (and sometimes even gills) usually concolorous with cap

Cap orange or yellowish orange
Latex usually orange or yellow

Diagnosis

• Cap up to 4" across; zonate
  
• Taste acrid

Comments

Narrow down your identification:

• Latex never yellow
  
• If zonate, then only faintly so

• Latex yellow or quickly becoming so (within a minute)
  
• Cap usually zonate

Latex white, quickly turning bright yellow
Flesh not changing color when cut or bruised
Spore print pale yellow

Cap usually deeper orange than the other choices, and more vaguely (if at all) zonate; sticky when young
Flesh and latex white, quickly changing to deep yellow
Taste bitter to acrid
Spore yellowish
Under hardwoods

Cap margin fringed with hairs
Latex white, scanty
No color changes
Under hardwoods

Latex white, quickly turning bright yellow, and staining gills (especially) reddish brown
Spore print white to yellowish
Under pine

Cap strongly zonate
Gills buff to yellowish, bruising brownish
Stem buff to yellowish brown; bruising like gills
Latex white, drying grey or brownish grey on gill edges
Odor sometimes strong, pungent to fruity
Spore print ochre
Under hardwoods, especially oak

Glossary

Mushrooms

People

Newsletter

Events