Russula viscida    Kud?na 

common name(s) : Viscid Brittlegill 

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

synonyms: Russula occidentalis, Russula artesiana, Russula viscida-occidentalis 

edibility : discard

potential confusions with Russula viscida toxicity of Russula viscida genus Russula  

The cap is with variable shades : red to Bordeaux, here and there ochre-olive, convex then flat, rarely depressed ; its margin is smooth to wavy. The cap surface is smooth, often viscid.

The stem is white, ochre towards base, without ring.

The flesh is white, turning yellow then brown in patches when exposed to air; its taste is acrid; the odour is fruity; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are cream to yellowish, adnate to emarginate, crowded . The spore print is cream. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in broad-leaved and coniferous woods, on a rather calcareous soil, with beech, spruce, pine.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 12 cm (between 5 and 25 cm)
  height of stem approximately 9 cm (between 3.5 and 15 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 25 mm (between 12 and 40 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming pale grey-pink when in contact with iron sulphate; positive reaction to Gaïac (quite bright blue);.

Distinctive features : viscous cap surface; cream-yellow gills, with rusty stains; flesh turning slightly brown

Russula viscida is still unreported so far in the forest of Rambouillet, and is quite rare, more generally speaking .



page updated on 14/01/18