Lactarius Genus

Key to Gilled Mushrooms Key

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.

Russulales Suborder

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

Lactarius Genus Persoon: S. F. Gray

Diagnosis

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

Comments

A lot of the mushrooms in this genus will fit more than one choice in the key. For example, you may have a sticky orange Lactarius, and there's a choice for both the sticky and the orange Lactarii. Don't worry about this: just pick either one, and it'll merge up with the other later on in the key

Narrow down your identification:

BlueCap Lactarius Section

Cap blue, slate blue, or silvery blue, often with orange tones (sometimes orange with blue tones!)
Sometimes weakly zonate

Dark Brownish Green Lactarius Section

Cap dark brownish green, at least in center; convex and viscid at first, becoming vase-shaped, dry and shiny; never velvety
Stalk usually scrobiculate

Dull-colored Lactarius Section

Cap brown to light brown or greyish, sometimes with lilac tinges or spotted; often fading to buff; not scrobiculate, often umbonate

Mild White Lactarius Subgenus

Cap white to buff, often with a white bloom
Taste mild (although the smell may be disgusting)

Orange Lactarius Subgenus

Cap orange or yellowish orange
Latex usually orange or yellow

Peppery Lactarius Subgenus

Latex white, abundant in fresh specimens, extremely acrid
Cap up to 10" across; white to buff, sometimes with tinges of other colors
Gills sometimes extremely close

Slimy Lactarius Subgenus

Cap sticky or slimy when fresh

Velvety Lactarius Subgenus

Cap pebbled with minute bumps, giving it a velvety appearance; not scaly or furry
Latex white, or colorless, not changing color (although it may stain the flesh of the mushroom a different color)
Taste usually mild

Lactarius lignyotis

Cap up to 4" across; deep black at first, fading to brown in age; gradually umbonate; often wrinkled
Latex white, abundant, staining cut surfaces reddish
Spore print bright ochre
On the ground and among mosses in conifer woods and sphagnum bogs

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Lactarius Genus

Lactarius Genus

Lactarius Genus Persoon: S. F. Gray

Diagnosis

Comments

Narrow down your identification:

Cap blue, slate blue, or silvery blue, often with orange tones (sometimes orange with blue tones!) Sometimes weakly zonate

Cap dark brownish green, at least in center; convex and viscid at first, becoming vase-shaped, dry and shiny; never velvety Stalk usually scrobiculate

Cap brown to light brown or greyish, sometimes with lilac tinges or spotted; often fading to buff; not scrobiculate, often umbonate

Cap white to buff, often with a white bloom Taste mild (although the smell may be disgusting)

Cap orange or yellowish orange Latex usually orange or yellow

Latex white, abundant in fresh specimens, extremely acrid Cap up to 10" across; white to buff, sometimes with tinges of other colors Gills sometimes extremely close

Cap sticky or slimy when fresh

Cap pebbled with minute bumps, giving it a velvety appearance; not scaly or furry Latex white, or colorless, not changing color (although it may stain the flesh of the mushroom a different color) Taste usually mild

Cap up to 4" across; deep black at first, fading to brown in age; gradually umbonate; often wrinkled Latex white, abundant, staining cut surfaces reddish Spore print bright ochre On the ground and among mosses in conifer woods and sphagnum bogs

Cap blue, slate blue, or silvery blue, often with orange tones (sometimes orange with blue tones!)
Sometimes weakly zonate

Cap dark brownish green, at least in center; convex and viscid at first, becoming vase-shaped, dry and shiny; never velvety
Stalk usually scrobiculate

Cap white to buff, often with a white bloom
Taste mild (although the smell may be disgusting)

Cap orange or yellowish orange
Latex usually orange or yellow

Latex white, abundant in fresh specimens, extremely acrid
Cap up to 10" across; white to buff, sometimes with tinges of other colors
Gills sometimes extremely close

Cap pebbled with minute bumps, giving it a velvety appearance; not scaly or furry
Latex white, or colorless, not changing color (although it may stain the flesh of the mushroom a different color)
Taste usually mild

Cap up to 4" across; deep black at first, fading to brown in age; gradually umbonate; often wrinkled
Latex white, abundant, staining cut surfaces reddish
Spore print bright ochre
On the ground and among mosses in conifer woods and sphagnum bogs