Lactarius scoticus

Description

Lactarius scoticus is a member of the large milk-cap genus Lactarius in the order Russulales. It is found in Europe, where it grows in peat bogs in a mycorrhizal association with birch. The mushroom has a slender stem and a whitish or cream-colored cap. The brim is lined frayed in youth with short hair. The fruiting bodies of the inedible milk Lings usually appear sociable from July to October.

The mushroom is inedible.

Common names: Hoary Milkcap, The Fluffy Moor Milchling.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   Is initially convex before developing a central depression, sometimes becoming funnel-shaped, and reaches diameters of 1.4–6 cm (0.6–2.4 in). The cap surface is smooth overall and dry, but sometimes has small cracks in the center, and an increasingly felt-like texture moving towards the margin, which is usually fringed with 1–2-mm long hairs. The color is initially pale cream to whitish, later becoming pale pinkish-buff to cream, with a more yellowish to yellowish-brown center.

2. Gills

   The crowded gills have an adnate to decurrent attachment to the stem. Whitish to pale pinkish-buff in color, they are sometimes forked near the stem attachment.

3. Stem

   The stem measures 2.0–7.5 cm (0.8–3.0 in) long by 0.4–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) in diameter, and is either cylindrical to slightly club-shaped. It has a smooth to finely felty surface with a light cream to pinkish-buff color.

4. Flesh

   The flesh is similar in color to the outer surfaces; it has an acrid taste and an acidic to fruity odor. The sparse latex is white and has an immediately acrid taste.

5. Spores

   The spores are ellipsoid in shape, measuring on average 6.5–6.9 by 4.9–5.0 µm. The spore surface features warts and ridges up to 0.5 µm high that are connected by thin ridges to form an incomplete reticulum. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are cylindrical to club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 30–45 by 7–9 µm.

6. Spore Print

   Pale cream spore print.

7. Habitat

   Found in European peat bogs, where is grows in a mycorrhizal association with birch species. Fruiting occurs from July to October.

Look-Alikes

1. Lactarius torminosus

   Has a pink-banded cap.

2. Lactarius pubescens

   Is larger, less burning.

History

The species was first described by British mycologists Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome in 1879. The type collection was made near Aboyne (a village located near the edge of the Scottish Highlands) in 1862; the type locality is referred to in the specific epithet scoticus (Scotland).

Synonyms

1. Lactifluus scoticus (Berk. & Broome) Kuntze 1891.

2. Lactarius pubescens var. scoticus (Berk. & Broome) Krieglst. 1991

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Urmas Ojango (Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic)