Russula lilacea    Quél. 

common name(s) : Lilac Brittlegill 

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

edibility : unknown edibility

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

The cap is lilac-purple to violet-brown, sometimes also tinged with red, pink, copper, convex then soon expanded-flat and more or less depressed; its margin is smooth at first, then later more or less furrowed with age. The cap surface is smooth to finely grainy-cracked (margin), entirely peelable, pruinose in dry weather in the youth, but sticky-viscid under wet weather conditions.

The stem is cylindrical or slightly thicker at the base, soft, full then hollow, white, washed with pink in places, without ring.

The flesh is white; its taste is mild, sometimes slightly peppery; the odour is faint; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are white then cream much later, free to slightly adnate, rather crowded . The spore print is white. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in damp broad-leaved woods, on a rather neutral to calcareous soil, mostly with hornbeam, oak.

The fruiting period takes place from June to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 5 cm (between 3 and 8 cm)
  height of stem approximately 4 cm (between 2 and 6 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 9 mm (between 5 and 12 mm)

Chemical tests : stem becoming pale pink when in contact with iron sulphate; blue-green, intensely bt slowly, with gaïac; vinaceous brown with phenol; blueish with sulfovanillin.

Distinctive features : Lilac to pale violet cap, pruinose (in the youth); soft stem, washed with pink in places; white gills; mild taste; mostly with hornbeam or oak

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



page updated on 14/01/18