West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. July to September. Common in mixed woods and grassy places. McIlvaine.
Edible. Cordier, Curtis.
L. insulsus is another peppery member of Lactarius which has suffered unjustly. I have eaten it since 1881, and think it the best of the hot milk species. Its flesh is not as coarse as others, and is of better flavor. There is little difference in quality between it and L. deliciosus.
L. hys´ginus Fr. Gr—a crimson dye. Pileus 2–3 in. broad, rigid, at first convex, then nearly plane, umbilicate or slightly depressed, even, viscid, zoneless or rarely obscurely zonate, reddish-incarnate, tan-color or brownish-red, becoming paler with age, the thin margin inflexed. Gills close, adnate or subdecurrent, whitish, becoming yellowish or cream-colored. Stem 1–2 in. long, 4–8 lines thick, equal, glabrous, stuffed or hollow, colored like the pileus, or a little paler, sometimes spotted. Milk white, taste acrid.
Woods. Sandlake and Canoga, N.Y. July and August. Not common.
The reddish hue of the pileus distinguishes this species from its allies. The gluten or viscidity of the pileus in our specimens was rather tenacious and persistent. Peck, 38th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Spores subglobose, whitish on black paper, yellowish on white paper, 9–10µ Peck; 10×7–8µ Massee.
Mt. Gretna, Pa., 1897. Mixed woods. August, September.
Not very acrid. The entire acridity disappears in cooking. Several specimens were found and eaten, enough to prove it esculent and of good quality.