Lactarius pseudomucidus, commonly known as the slimy milk cap,[1] is a fungus native to the northwestern part of North America, often found in coastal and conifer forests.[2] It has a charcoal brown cap, smooth and slimy, from 2–10 cm across, initially flat convex, becoming shallowly depressed. The gills are decurrent, white with a gray or yellow tinge, staining brownish.[2] The stipe is 40–100 mm tall, hollow, brittle. Both the cap and stipe are mucilaginous.[2] The flesh is gray and the latex is milky white, drying yellowish.[2] There is only a slight odor, and the taste slowly becomes acrid. Spores are white in mass, ellipsoid, amyloid, about 8 μm long, with a reticulate decoration on the surface.[3][4] The species is inedible.[5] It resembles Lactarius argillaceifolius, which has a light orange-gray cap,[6] and eastern North America's Lactarius mucidus.[2] Its edibility is unknown, but the extremely viscid stalk and cap are a deterrent.[1]
| Lactarius pseudomucidus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lactarius pseudomucidus found in Mendocino, California | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Russulales |
| Family: | Russulaceae |
| Genus: | Lactarius |
| Species: | L. pseudomucidus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Lactarius pseudomucidus | |
Lactarius pseudomucidus | |
|---|---|
 | Gills on hymenium |
 | Cap is depressed |
 | Hymenium is decurrent |
 | Stipe is bare |
 | Spore print is white |
 | Edibility is unknown |
References
edit- ^ a b Thiers, Harry D.; Arora, David (September 1980). "Mushrooms Demystified". Mycologia. 72 (5): 1054. doi:10.2307/3759750. ISSN 0027-5514.
- ^ a b c d e Trudell, Steve; Ammirati, Joe (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press Field Guides. Portland, OR: Timber Press. pp. 59–60. ISBN 978-0-88192-935-5.
- ^ Hesler, LR, & AH Smith. 1979. North American species of Lactarius. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- ^ Smith, AH. 1975. Field guide to western mushrooms. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- ^ Phillips, Roger (2010) [2005]. Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-55407-651-2.
- ^ Davis, R. Michael; Sommer, Robert; Menge, John A. (2012). Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-0-520-95360-4. OCLC 797915861.