Lactarius psammicola

Description
Mushroom Identification

Description

Lactarius psammicola has a cream-yellow to a cream-orange color cap, and measures from 4 to 16 cm. The mushroom's insides are white and fleshy, and produce a white latex when cut. Its mushroom cap is convex when young and becomes funnel-shaped as it ages. The cap has concentric rings of orangish brown.

The mess surrounding the North American versions of the European species Lactarius zonarius gets my vote for All-Time Worst Lactarius Nightmare. We have, on our continent, a bunch of poorly understood and often poorly defined species, varieties, and forms that are similar to Lactarius zonarius. Among these, Lactarius psammicola is arguably the most clearly delineated and recognizable species.

Lactarius psammicola habitat from Michigan to Central America and is primarily found associated with oaks during the summer.

Mushroom Identification

Ecology

Mycorrhizal with oaks and possibly other hardwoods; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.
Cap

4-16 cm; at first with deep central depression and an inrolled, hairy margin; later vase-shaped, with the margin, typically remaining somewhat inrolled and softly leathery or finely hairy; slimy when fresh but soon dry; roughened; with buff and orange concentric zones of color.
Gills

Running down the stem; close; rarely forking near the stem; whitish or buff, becoming darker and dirty; sometimes bruising brownish to lilac brown.
Stem

1-3 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; whitish, sometimes discoloring brownish were handled; tapering to base; with potholes.
Flesh

Thick; white; unchanging when sliced.
Milk

White; unchanging; not staining tissues, or staining them slowly brownish to lilac brownish; slowly staining white paper yellow.
Odor and Taste

Odor not distinctive; taste strongly acrid.
Spore Print

Yellowish to yellow.
Microscopic Features

Spores: 7.5-9 x 6-7.5 µ; broadly ellipsoid; ornamentation about 0.5 µ high, as isolated, amyloid warts and short ridges that occasionally form partial reticula. Pleuromacrocystidia inconspicuous; to about 50 µ long; subfusiform to subcylindric. Cheilocystidia similar. Pileipellis a thick ixocutis.