Lactarius chelidonium
Key to Gilled Mushrooms KeyThis 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 SuborderFlesh 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 GenusFruiting bodies (especially the gills) exuding a liquid (called a latex) when broken
Stalk (and sometimes even gills) usually concolorous with cap
BlueCap Lactarius SectionCap blue, slate blue, or silvery blue, often with orange tones (sometimes orange with blue tones!)
Sometimes weakly zonate
Lactarius chelidonium Peck
Here are the characters that distinguish this species from the others in its group. For its more general characters, see higher up on the page.
If there's just a few words or a microscopic feature here, a more thorough description can be found above.
Diagnosis
- Flesh blue, becoming yellow near the gills
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Cap up to 3" across; at first blue, with orange tints, rapidly becoming completely orange with greenish tints and staining greenish
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Latex yellow, scanty, becoming yellowish brown
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Under confers, especially pine
- There are two varieties:
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v. chelidonium has
- mild-tasting latex
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clearly yellow gills
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latex that starts off clearly yellow before changing to dingy yellow and then yellow brown
- slowly, slightly acrid latex
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dingy yellowish gills
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latex that starts off dingy yellow and changes to yellow brown
Microscropic Characters
