Russula puellaris    Fr. 

common name(s) : Yellowing Brittlegill1 

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

edibility : edible

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

The cap is with variable shades : pinkish brown or copper to yellow (yellowing), convex then expanded and finally a bit depressed; its margin is striate. The cap surface is smooth, sticky when damp.

The stem is white, becoming yellow with age, without ring.

The flesh is white, yellowing when exposed to air; its taste is mild; the odour is very weak; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are cream to yellowish, adnexed, crowded (nb of gills per 90° ~ 27 ). The spore print is pale ochre (D-E). This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in damp places of broad-leaved or coniferous woods, on a rather variable soil, with pine, spruce, Douglas pine, or various deciduous trees.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 4 cm (between 2 and 7 cm)
  height of stem approximately 5 cm (between 2 and 8 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 10 mm (between 5 and 15 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming salmon pink when in contact with iron sulphate; quick reaction to Gaïac (bright blue); strong purple reaction of cap cystidia to sulpho-vanillin.

Distinctive features : Gills white, then yellow when mature; soft white flesh turning yellow (ochre) when bruised or cut; cap surface with reddish shades, shiny for a long time; with a distinctively striate margin; slightly sticky when damp

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



page updated on 14/01/18