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
Simply Striate Smelly Yellow Russula SubSection
Diagnosis
Narrow down your identification:
Russula mutabilisCap up to 3" across; viscid; orange brown to chestnut; margin sulcate, with yellow powder when young; peeling up to 1/2 of the way to the center
Stem creamy to yellow ochre
Both cap and stem staining dull to dark red from handling
Russula pulverulentaCap up to 3 1/4" across; ochre to greyish brown; covered with yellow floccules; peeling up to 1/2 of the way to the center
Stem with yellow granules below
