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
Peppery Lactarius SubgenusLatex 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
Red Hot Lactarius Section
Diagnosis
Comments
The specimens in the picture are browner than most; I just put them in so if you get something unusually brown, you won't be turned away
Narrow down your identification:
Lactarius rufusCap dark brick-red to reddish brown; margin inrolled at first, becoming uplifted
Flesh dingy reddish to purplish tan, slowly staining olive-grey in FeSO4
Under pines or in sphagnum bogs
Spore print cream to pale yellow
Lactarius torminosusCap pink to red, furry, zonate; margin fringed with white hairs
Usually under birch
