Russula amoenolens    Romagn. 

common name(s) : Camembert Brittlegill 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Incertae sedis/Russulales/Russulaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Russulales/Russulaceae  

synonyms: Russula sororia ss.Schäff., Russula pectinata ss.Lge. 

edibility : inedible

photo gallery of  Russula amoenolens
photo gallery of  Russula amoenolens potential confusions with  Russula amoenolens toxicity of Russula amoenolens genus Russula  

The cap is grey-brown to olive-grey, darker at the centre, convex then flat then depressed ; its margin is furrowed-grooved, with small warts. The cap surface is smooth, peelable half-way through, sticky and viscid in wet weather.

The stem is white, becoming grey to grey-brown from the base up, cylindrical and sometimes tapering at the base, full and firm then hollow and fragile, without ring.

The flesh is white, unchanging; its taste is very hot, but slowly; the odour is of Jerusalem artichoke or cooked seafood, then spermatic, rancid or of camembert cheese; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are white to pale cream, their edges becoming brown with age, adnexed to slightly adnate, forked, crowded . The spore print is pale cream. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in broad-leaved and mixed woods, parks, avenues, on a rather acid or neutral soil, with oak, also with birch, lime.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 6 cm (between 3 and 9 cm)
  height of stem approximately 4 cm (between 2.5 and 6 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 14 mm (between 10 and 20 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming pale ochre-orange when in contact with iron sulphate; fast and intense reaction to gaïac; reddish-brown reaction to phenol; faint reaction to sulpho-vanillin.

Distinctive features : grey-brown cap, with darker disk and furrowed margin; pale cream gills; unpleasant odour of cooked seafood then rancid or camembert cheese; very hot taste; with oaks

Russula amoenolens is quite rare and scattered in the forest of Rambouillet, and is infrequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Russula amoenolens in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Russula amoenolens in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18