Key to Gilled Mushrooms KeyThis is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.
Russulales SuborderFlesh without fibers, fracturing with the same sort of break as a piece of chalk
Spore and gill color limited to white, yellow, or ochre
Mycorrhizal: occuring only on the ground, and only when there are trees nearby
No ring or volva on stalk
All fleshy-stemmed mushrooms whose gills exude a latex when cut go here
Russula GenusNo latex
Cap usually brighter colored than Lactarius
Stalk usually white or tinged with color of cap
White, Black or Deep Brown Russula SubgenusOnly cap colors white to cream or buff, or dark brown to black
Blackening White Russula SectionCap and flesh starting out white or creamy, bruising or aging dark brown or black
Break the mushroom open to judge this feature: see if the flesh changes color. The color change can take up to 20 minutes, so be patient
Felty Blackening Russula SubSection
Diagnosis
Narrow down your identification:
Russula dissimulansCap not peeling at all
Flesh turns strongly reddish, then black when bruised
Russula michiganensisCap up to 4" across; darkening only to olive grey
Gills ivory yellow
Stem white to drab brown; bruising brown to black, sometimes dull red first
Russula nigricansGills very thick, distant; ivory; bruising bright red, then black; partial gills abundant
Flesh bruising bright carrot color to red, then slowly brownish black
