Russula ventricosipes
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
Russula GenusNo latex
Cap usually brighter colored than Lactarius
Stalk usually white or tinged with color of cap
Yellow to Brownish Russula SubgenusCap entirely yellow or light brown
Smelly Yellow Russula SectionSmelling either sweet (like almonds or marzipan), or extremely foul
Cap color various shades of yellowish brown
Gills close; often stained or spotted some shade of brown
Stem large, firm; usually stained some shade of brown at the base
Taste acrid
Tuberculate Smelly Yellow Russula SubSection
Russula ventricosipes 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
- Cap up to 5 1/2" across; viscid when wet; peeling 1/2-3/4 of the way to the center
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Stem short, squat, pointed and reddish at base
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Flesh very firm
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Odor faint
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In sandy soils near pines, often almost buried in the sand
Microscropic Characters
- Spores 7-10 x 4.5-6 µm; warts 0-.1 µm high, almost smooth with hardly any connecting lines
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Pileocystidia as swollen hyphal ends, 5-6 µm wide, containing granules that stain in sulfovanillin
