Species details
Ochre brittlegill
Russula ochroleuca
Extra caution required
Photo: Leonhard Lenz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A common ochre-yellow brittlegill with a white stem and brittle gills.
Identification features
Flesh and gills are white, taste may be mild to slightly acrid; single features are not enough for safe identification.
Identification checklist
Check the entire fruitbody for identification. A common ochre-yellow brittlegill with a white stem and brittle gills. Flesh and gills are white, taste may be mild to slightly acrid; single features are not enough for safe identification. Typical habitat: Coniferous and deciduous woodland on acidic soils.
Detailed features
- Cap
- Up to 12 cm, initially hemispherical, later flat to depressed, ochre-yellow sometimes with a greenish cast; smooth and partly peelable.
- Hymenophore
- Gills are initially white, later slightly yellowish and may become brown-spotted with age.
- Stem
- Up to 7 × 1.5 cm, white, cylindrical, initially solid, later softer and yellow-brown spotted.
- Flesh
- White, initially firm, later softer and brittle.
- Smell
- Indistinct.
- Spore print
- Yellowish-ochre.
Size
- Cap diameter
- ≤ 12 cm
- Stem height
- ≤ 7 cm
- Stem diameter
- ≤ 1,5 cm
Habitat
Coniferous and deciduous woodland on acidic soils.
Fruiting period
July, August, September, October, November
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Mycorrhizal
- Host trees
- Spruce (Picea)
- Substrate
- Forest soil
- Soil
- Acidic
- Notes
- Common in coniferous and mixed woodland, especially beneath spruce on acidic soils.
How to separate similar species
Compare especially with these similar species: Russula foetens, Russula emetica. 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
- Stinking brittlegill (Russula foetens)
Stinking brittlegill is larger, browner, coarsely striate and has a strong unpleasant smell.
- Sickener (Russula emetica) DANGEROUS
Sickener usually has a red cap and strongly acrid flesh.
Interesting facts
Did you know? The yellow-ochre cap colour can be quite variable, so colour alone is not sufficient for identification.