Species details
Fleecy milkcap
Lactarius vellereus
Inedible
Photo: Annabel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A very large white milkcap with a felted-velvety cap and relatively distant thick gills.
Identification features
Latex is white, the flesh very firm, and the taste often strongly acrid.
Identification checklist
Check the entire fruitbody for identification. A very large white milkcap with a felted-velvety cap and relatively distant thick gills. Latex is white, the flesh very firm, and the taste often strongly acrid. Typical habitat: Deciduous and mixed woodland, often with beech and oak.
Detailed features
- Cap
- 8–25 cm, initially flat with a strongly inrolled margin, later deeply funnel-shaped; white and distinctly velvety-felted from young.
- Hymenophore
- Gills white to ochre, thick and broad, becoming more widely spaced with age; slightly decurrent.
- Stem
- 3–8 × 1–4 cm, short and stout, white, often narrowing toward the base.
- Flesh
- White and very firm, sometimes ochre on exposure; white latex is strongly acrid.
- Smell
- Usually pleasant to indistinct.
- Taste
- Acrid; tasting is not recommended.
- Spore print
- Whitish.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 8–25 cm
- Stem height
- 3–8 cm
- Stem diameter
- 1–4 cm
Habitat
Deciduous and mixed woodland, often with beech and oak.
Fruiting period
July, August, September, October, November
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Mycorrhizal
- Substrate
- Forest soil
- Notes
- A mycorrhizal species of broadleaved and coniferous woodland, often growing in groups.
How to separate similar species
Compare especially with these similar species: Lactifluus piperatus, Russula delica. Check the combination of cap shape and colour, spore-bearing surface, stem, flesh changes and habitat. A single feature or photograph is not enough; if the key characters do not match the description, do not treat the identification as confirmed.
Similar species
- Lactifluus piperatus
Peppery milkcap usually has much more crowded, thinner gills and a less velvety-felted cap.
- Milk-white brittlegill (Russula delica)
Milk-white brittlegill does not exude latex when damaged; this is a key difference from milkcaps.
Interesting facts
Did you know? Old specimens can become very large and deeply funnel-shaped, making them conspicuous from a distance.