Species details
Green-staining milkcap
Lactifluus glaucescens
Conditional / expert preparation
Photo: Svencapoeira · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo source · License
Description
An almost entirely white milkcap with white latex that soon turns olive to blue-green in air; the taste is strongly acrid.
Identification features
The cap is 5–12(15) cm wide, chalk white, later ochre-spotted and may green when handled. Gills are white to pale ochre. The white latex quickly turns olive to blue-green.
Identification checklist
Key clues are the very white colour and latex that quickly changes from white to olive or blue-green. Check the change on damaged gills.
Detailed features
- Cap
- The cap is 5–12(15) cm wide, chalk white, later ochre-spotted and may green when handled.
- Hymenophore
- The gills are white to pale ochre.
Habitat
Grows in deciduous and coniferous woodland with oak, beech, pine and spruce, in summer and early autumn.
Fruiting period
June, July, August, September
Ecology
- Host trees
- Spruce (Picea), Beech (Fagus), Oak (Quercus), Pine (Pinus)
- Notes
- Grows in deciduous and coniferous woodland with oak, beech, pine and spruce, in summer and early autumn.
How to separate similar species
Lactifluus piperatus looks similarly white, but its latex does not green in the same way. White milkcaps can be very similar.
Similar species
- Lactifluus piperatus
- Lactifluus vellereus
- Weeping milkcap (Lactifluus volemus)