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
Purple Russula SubgenusCap with at least some purple, lilac, vinaceous or magenta coloring
Motley Purple Russula SectionCap usually more than one color, mostly purples and greens, shading from one to the other randomly over the cap
Sometimes Motley Purple Russula SubSection
Diagnosis
- Cap intrinsically smoothly shaded, but sometimes with blotches of lighter color
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Only some gills forking, or gills forking only near the stem
Narrow down your identification:
Russula mariaeCap up to 3 1/4" across; often partly or all creamy yellow when young, sometimes also green; with a white bloom; margin striate; peeling 2/3 of the way to the center
Stem often flushed pinkish purple
Russula vinaceaCap up to 5" across; vinaceous, darkening to blackish over the disk, often splotched with yellowish ochre; viscid when moist; peeling 1/2-2/3 of the way to the center
Stem sometimes rusty spotted at base; often grayish in age
Gills cream, often spotted rusty, close, forked near the stem
