Crab Brittlegill

Russula xerampelina

Coniferous and mixed forests, especially pine forests. Summer, autumn.

Medium-sized. Cap 5-9 (13) cm across, the cuticle peels easily, sticky when damp, matt when dry, reddish-violet, reddish-bronze, with an ochre, greenish-yellow tinge. Young gills cream, later ochre, adnate, when mature free. Stem 3—8x1.5—3 cm, white, with a pink bloom. Characteristic features: flesh white, firm, not bitter, turning brownish or yellowish-bronze when pressed or broken, with a strong smell of herring (especially in old fruiting bodies and when rubbed between the fingers). Grows in summer and autumn, most often in sizeable small groups. Edible, common.