Russula olivacea    (Schaeff.) Pers. 

common name(s) : Olive Brittlegill 

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

synonyms: Russula alutacea ss.auct. 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Russula cicatrica)  

edibility : poisonous

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

The cap is with variable shades : olive green, Bordeaux, brownish, convex then flat, then depressed ; its margin is smooth. The cap surface is smooth, not viscid nor sticky.

The stem is white washed with reddish everywhere or towards top only, without ring.

The flesh is unchanging; its taste is mild; the odour is pleasant, of fruit; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are white to yellow, free to emarginate, crowded . The spore print is ochre to egg yellow (G-H). This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in broad-leaved or coniferous woods, on a rather acid soil, with beech, spruce, oak.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 13 cm (between 4 and 22 cm)
  height of stem approximately 9 cm (between 5 and 15 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 30 mm (between 15 and 40 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming ochraceous or grey-pink in stem, stronger in cap flesh when in contact with iron sulphate; positive (blue-green) reaction to Gaïac; flesh becoming slowly purple when in contact with 2% diluted phenol.

Distinctive features : cap considerably varying in colour, with tones of green and red, matt, wrinkled concentrically at margin; stem flushed with pink, more so near top; yellow gills, cross-connecting near stem; white to honey-yellow, firm flesh

Russula olivacea is quite rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Russula olivacea in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Russula olivacea in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18