Hygrophorus russula    (Pers.) Wünsche 

common name(s) : Pinkmottle Woodwax, Russula Wax Cap 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Hygrophoraceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Tricholomatales [sub-genus:Neocamarophyllus section:Rubentes ]  
(unconfirmed synonyms: Limacium russula, Tricholoma russula)  

edibility : poisonous

photo gallery of  Hygrophorus russula
photo gallery of  Hygrophorus russula potential confusions with  Hygrophorus russula toxicity of Hygrophorus russula genus Hygrophorus  

The cap is whitish then soon vinaceous pink or purple, convex to expanded to flat or depressed, often gibbous and thick-massive; its margin is inrolled for a long time. The cap surface is smooth then fibrillose, the vinaceous-purple fibrils or blotches on a lighter background giving it a scaly appearance, slightly viscid or stick when damp, drying matt.

The stem is whitish, short, stained with vinaceous red blotches or fibrils, non viscid, without ring.

The flesh is white to pinkish with age; its taste is mild to bitterish; the odour is faint, pleasant, fruity or of grass; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are white, then stained with vinaceous red, adnate to slightly decurrent, crowded, narrow . The spore print is white. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in broad-leaved woods, on a rather calcareous soil, with beech, oak, evergreen oak.

The fruiting period takes place from July to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 10 cm (between 4 and 20 cm)
  height of stem approximately 8 cm (between 2 and 15 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 25 mm (between 10 and 50 mm)

Distinctive features : Large species looking like a brittlegill; whitish cap soon stained with vinaceous pink fibrils or blotches, not very viscid; short stem, concolorous with cap, non viscid; crowded and adnate gills, white then stained vinaceous red; in decideous woods on calcareous soils, privileging southern Europe

Hygrophorus russula is rare and confined in the forest of Rambouillet, and is quite rare, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Hygrophorus russula in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Hygrophorus russula in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18