Blotched Woodwax

Hygrophorus erubescens

Coniferous forests, especially pine forests. Summer, more rarely autumn.

Fruiting bodies medium-sized, fleshy. Cap grows up to 10 cm across, whitish with a pinkish tinge when young, older ones covered with dense, small purplish-pink scales, looking as if mottled with brownish-yellow and red spots. Gills white, old ones pinkish-brownish, red-spotted, decurrent. Stem 5-7 cm long and 1.5-2 cm thick, white near the gills, pinkish-brown below, with a pink tinge. Flesh white, brown, soft, bitter-tasting. Characteristic features: a fungus of coniferous, especially pine, forests. Very similar is the brittlegill woodwax (Hygrophorus russula (Schaeff.: Fr.) Qusl), but it is larger and grows in mixed and deciduous forests, especially in calcareous oak woods. Rare, only a few sites are known. Inedible because of its bitter taste. Warmth-loving. Protected.