False Saffron Milkcap

Lactarius deterrimus

Spruce forests, mixed spruce forests, especially with oak. End of summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies medium-sized, large. Cap 5-10 (12) cm across, flattened, margins incurved, with greenish spots, pinkish-orange, dirty ochre in colour. Gills orange-ochre, brownish-red, exuding orange milk when broken or cut, adnate, subdecurrent. Stem 3-7x1-2.5 cm, orange-brownish. Flesh fairly thick, firm, carrot-, orange-cream-coloured, exuding orange milk when cut or broken, which later turns green. Characteristic features: fruiting bodies pinkish-orange, smaller than those of the Saffron Milkcap. Grows singly, in small groups, in groups. Its food value is the same as that of the Saffron Milkcap; mushroom pickers probably do not even distinguish them as separate species. Fairly common.