Compac´tæ.
R. ni´gricans Bull.—nigrico, to be blackish. Pileus 2–4 in. and more broad, olivaceous-fuliginous, at length black, fleshy to the margin which is at first bent inwards, convex then flattened, umbilicato-depressed, when young and moist slightly viscid and even (without a separable pellicle), at length cracked in scales. Flesh firm, white, when broken becoming red on exposure to the air. Stem 1 in. thick, persistently solid, equal, pallid when young, at length black. Gills rounded behind, slightly adnexed, thick, distant, unequal, paler, reddening when touched. Fries.
Compact, obese, inodorous, within and without at length wholly black, in which it differs from all others. The flesh becomes red when broken because it is saturated with red juice, although it does not exude milk. Sometimes a very few of the gills are dimidiate.
In woods. Common. June to November. Stevenson.
Var. albo´nigra Krombh.—albo, white; negro, to be black. Pileus fleshy, convexo-plane, depressed in the middle, at length funnel-shaped, viscid, whitish, smoky about the margin. Flesh white, turning black when broken. Stem solid, stout, dusky, becoming blackened. Gills decurrent, crowded, unequal, dusky-whitish. In grassy places.
Spores papillose, 8µ W.G.S.; subglobose, rough, 8–9µ Massee.
New York. Our specimens agree with the description in every respect, except that the gills are not distant. Peck, 32d Rep.
Mild when raw, but with a heavy woody taste.
Cooked it makes a good dish, but does not equal most Russulæ.
R. purpuri´na Quel. and Schulz.—purple. (Plate [XLVa].) Pileus fleshy, margin acute, subglobose, then plane, at length depressed in the center, slightly viscid in very wet weather, not striate, often split, pellicle separable, rosy-pink, paling even to light yellow. Gills crowded in youth, afterward subdistant, white, in age yellowish, reaching the stem, 2–4 lines broad in front, not greatly narrowed behind, almost equal, not forked. Stem spongy, stuffed, very variable, cylindrical, attenuated above and below the middle, rosy-pink becoming paler (rarely white) toward the base, color obscure in age. Flesh fragile, white, reddish under the skin; odor slight, taste mild. Spores white, globose, sometimes sub-elliptical, 4–8µ long, minutely warted.