Species flashcards

Description

Cap: 5–10 cm across; convex when young, later flattening and sometimes slightly depressed in the centre. Flesh-coloured, wine-red, ochre-red or purple-brown, often fading to yellowish ochre in the centre with small cream or olive patches. Dull when dry and sticky when wet; the margin is shortly striate in age.

Gills: Attached to the stem and crowded, pale cream at first, later cream-ochre. The edges brown when bruised.

Stem: 4–8 cm tall and 1.5–3 cm thick, slightly widening downwards and whitish. It develops greyish- to ochre-brown spots when handled.

Flesh: White, fairly firm and browning with age or bruising. Mild in taste; older fruitbodies have a distinctive herring smell which disappears during cooking.

Spores: Spore print cream to ochre; spores ellipsoid and finely warted.

Occurrence: A mycorrhizal species fruiting from July to October in deciduous woodland, especially with oak on acidic soils.

Edibility: Edible.

Lookalikes: May resemble the crab brittlegill and the flesh-red russula.

Note: The epithet graveolens means strongly scented, referring to the characteristic herring smell of older fruitbodies.

Species description: Scientifically described by Lars Romell.

Taxonomy

1. PhylumBasidiomycota
2. ClassAgaricomycetes
3. OrderRussulales
4. FamilyRussulaceae
5. GenusRussula

• Species: Russula graveolens
• Synonym: Russula xerampelina var. graveolens
• Authority: Lars Romell
• English name: Oldcrab brittlegill
• Ecological status: mycorrhizal
• Edibility: edible