Peppery Lactarius Subgenus

Key to Gilled Mushrooms Key

This 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 Suborder

Flesh 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

Lactarius Genus

Fruiting bodies (especially the gills) exuding a liquid (called a latex) when broken
Stalk (and sometimes even gills) usually concolorous with cap

Peppery Lactarius Subgenus

Diagnosis

Latex white, abundant in fresh specimens, extremely acrid
Cap up to 10" across; white to buff, sometimes with tinges of other colors
Gills sometimes extremely close

Comments

And when I say "extremely acrid", I mean you break a gill, touch your tongue to the spot, and your whole mouth is instantly aflame. Use extreme caution; this is why many people carry sourballs (which seems risky to me: you end up gasping so much, you might swallow it). The first time I performed this test, I ended up scrubbing my tongue under the faucet for about 15 minutes..
The cap is often slightly mottled, as in the picture, giving it a slightly furry appearance

Narrow down your identification:

Red Hot Lactarius Section

Cap pink to reddish brown; usually velutinate or furry

White Hot Lactarius Section

Entire fruiting body white, sometimes with pink or greenish tones, or fading to tan in age
Cap margin typically becoming uplifted in age, making the whole fruiting body vase-shaped

Lookalikes:

Lactarius uvidus

Pileus slimy when fresh, tinged with purple.

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Peppery Lactarius Subgenus

Peppery Lactarius Subgenus

Fruiting bodies (especially the gills) exuding a liquid (called a latex) when broken Stalk (and sometimes even gills) usually concolorous with cap

Peppery Lactarius Subgenus

Diagnosis

Comments

Narrow down your identification:

Cap pink to reddish brown; usually velutinate or furry

Entire fruiting body white, sometimes with pink or greenish tones, or fading to tan in age Cap margin typically becoming uplifted in age, making the whole fruiting body vase-shaped

Lookalikes:

Pileus slimy when fresh, tinged with purple.

Fruiting bodies (especially the gills) exuding a liquid (called a latex) when broken
Stalk (and sometimes even gills) usually concolorous with cap

Entire fruiting body white, sometimes with pink or greenish tones, or fading to tan in age
Cap margin typically becoming uplifted in age, making the whole fruiting body vase-shaped