Lactarius paradoxus

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

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

BlueCap Lactarius Section

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

Links from Look-alikes
Slimy Lactarius Subgenus

Cap sticky or slimy when fresh

Lactarius paradoxus Burlingham & H. C. Beardslee

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

Cap up to 3 1/4" across; silvery blue when young, zoned with tints of green and purple; slimy; slowly staining green when bruised or cut
Latex dark vinaceous brown; scanty; staining green
Spore print buff to yellow
Under pine

Microscropic Characters

Spores 7-9 x 5.5-6.5 µm

Comments

This mushroom has different hosts in different climates, which indicates that it is probably a complex of very similar species

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