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LACTARIUS
paler, stuffed, becoming hollow, spores broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, white,
7-10 X 6-8 )u, ornamented with fine to medium, separate warts, verrucose.
In groups on the ground in woods, swamps, or wet places. June-Oct.
There are a number of small reddish species that are easily confused and
the exact identity of L. subdulcis is not clear. Among the collections so labeled
in the herbarium at Ottawa there are two distinct species, one with spores
about 7-10 X 6-8 /u that are ornamented with warts and spines not forming
a network, and the other with spores 5.5-8 X 5-6 /x and ornamented with a
network of bands and ridges. Apparently the former is the true L. subdulcis.
It is reported to be edible but there is considerable danger of confusing
it with the poisonous L. rufus. The latter is usually larger but small specimens
might easily be taken for L. subdulcis. L. rufus is strongly acrid.
LACTARIUS SUBPURPUREUS Peck Edible
Figures 77, 78, page 45
PILEUS 1-3 in. broad, fleshy, convex-umbilicate, then expanded, depressed
to nearly infundibuliform, colors mixed and variable, dark red to hydrangea-
pink, zoned with pink and spotted with green, with a grayish luster, fading,
glabrous, slightly viscid when moist, margin at first inrolled, then arched,
pruinose. flesh whitish to pinkish, staining red, especially near the lamellae.
LATEX dark crimson, mild, lamellae slightly decurrent, subdistant, mod-
erately broad, dark red, fading, becoming greenish in age. stipe 1-2)4 in.
long, 14- V2 in. thick, equal, glabrous, hairy at the base, colored like the pileus,
spotted with dark red, stuffed, then hollow, spores broadly ellipsoid to sub-
globose, yellowish, 8-11 X 7-9 m, ornamented with heavy bands forming a
nearly complete reticulum, a few separate warts and ridges.
It grows in moist woods, apparently associated with hemlock. July-Sept.
This is not a common species but it is a very striking one because of the
dark red latex and the variegated colors of the pileus. The latex of L. deliciosus
is more orange-red.
LACTARIUS TORMINOSUS (Schaeff. ex Fr.) Gray Poisonous
Figure 82, page 47
PILEUS IV2-4 in. broad, fleshy, firm, at first convex, depressed in the
center, becoming expanded to nearly infundibuliform, pale yellowish buff to
rosy flesh color, often with more deeply colored zones, viscid, glabrous at the
center, the margin inrolled and persistently covered with long whitish tomen-
tum. FLESH firm, white to pale flesh colored, latex white, unchanging, very
acrid, lamellae decurrent, close, narrow, whitish to yellowish or at length
tinged faintly pinkish, some forked near the stipe, stipe l-lVi in. long, Vi-Va
in. thick, equal or slightly tapering downward, glabrous or pruinose, paler than
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