Russula fellea
Description
The cap is usually 4–9 cm wide, and convex, flattening later, and often with a broad central boss (umbo). It is sometimes furrowed at the margin when mature. The similarly colored, but paler stipe is firm and stout. The gills are adnexed, and are the same color as the stem, giving a spore print that is white to pale cream. The flesh is white and does not change color on cutting. It tastes hot and often has a bitter tang. The smell is variously reported to resemble geraniums, or apple sauce.
Russula fellea appears in autumn and is found with beech (Fagus) in Britain, but in Europe it sometimes occurs with spruce (Picea). It is normally associated with well-drained acid soils and is widespread in the northern temperate zones; Britain; Europe, and Asia. It is not present in North America where it is replaced by the closely related Russula simillima. It grows in deciduous and coniferous woods, and forests.
This mushroom is inedible, having a very hot bitter taste.
Common names: Geranium-scented Russula, Bitter Russula.
Mushroom Identification
Cap
Usually honey yellow but sometimes tawny-buff or orange towards the cap center; smooth; convex, soon developing a slight central depression; margin not lined or with only very short lines; cuticle peels 1/3 to 1/2 from the margin; 4 to 9cm across when fully expanded.
Gills
Paler than the cap, usually straw yellow at first but turning more buff with age; moderately crowded; adnexed to adnate.
Stem
Color as a cap or somewhat paler; sometimes slightly clavate; 4 to 6cm long, 1 to 2cm diameter, tapering slightly towards the cap.
Spores
Ellipsoidal, 7.5-9 x 6-7µm, ornamented with warts to 0.75um tall joined by many connecting lines forming an incomplete network (reticulum).
Spore Print
Whitish to pale cream.
Odor and Taste
This honey-colored brittlegill smells like stewed apples, although some insist that the scent is more reminiscent of pot geraniums – hence the common name. The taste is usually very hot and bitter.
Habitat & Ecological Role
This mushroom is particularly common in Beech woodland on alkaline and neutral soil in Britain and Ireland; however, particularly on mainland Europe, it is also found in spruce plantations on acid soil. In common with other members of the Russulaceae, Russula fellea is an ectomycorrhizal mushroom.
Similar Species
Russula ochroleuca, the Ochre Brittlegill, has much whiter gills and stem and lacks a distinctive odor.
History
The currently-accepted scientific name of the Geranium Brittlegill, Russula fellea, dates from an 1825 publication in which the great Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries transferred this species to the genus Russula.
Some four years earlier, in 1821, it was Fries who had established this brittlegill mushroom's basionym when he described it scientifically under the binomial name Agaricus felleus.
Synonyms of Russula fellea include Agaricus felleus Fr., and Russula ochracea.
Russula, the generic name, means red or reddish, and indeed many of the brittlegills have red caps.
The specific epithet fellea means 'very bitter'.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)