It resembles L. piperatus in general appearance. The whole plant turns black in drying. Peck, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Ohio, Morgan; Pennsylvania, Herbst; West Virginia, 1881–1885, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, pine, hemlock and mixed woods, July to September. McIlvaine.
It is of better quality than most coarse-grained Russulæ.
Furca´tæ.
R. furca´ta Fr.—furca, a fork. Pileus 3 in. broad, sometimes greenish, sometimes umber-greenish, fleshy, compact, gibbous then plano-depressed or infundibuliform, even, smooth, but often sprinkled with slightly silky luster, pellicle here and there separable, margin thin, at first inflexed, then spreading, always even. Flesh firm, somewhat cheesy, white. Stem 2 in. or a little more long, solid, firm, equal or attenuated downward, even, white. Gills adnato-decurrent, rather thick, somewhat distant but broad, attenuated at both ends, frequently forked, shining white. Fries.
Spores globose, echinulate, 6–7µ C.B.P.; 7–8×9µ Massee.
In woods, and grass under trees.
The frequently forked gills, from which the species takes its name, their being thick and slightly decurrent, help to distinguish it. It is quite common in its several varieties.
Taste mild at first. A slight bitter develops which disappears in cooking. It is then of good quality, not equal to R. virescens. Older writers marked it poisonous, doubtless for no other cause than its slight bitter. I have eaten it freely for fifteen years.
R. sangui´nea Fr.—sanguis, blood. Pileus 2–3 in. broad, blood-red or becoming pale round the even, spreading, acute margin, fleshy, firm, at first convex, obtuse, then depressed and infundibuliform and commonly gibbous in the center, polished, even, moist in damp weather. Flesh firm, cheesy, white. Stem stout, spongy-stuffed, at first contracted at the apex, then equal, slightly striate, white or reddish. Gills at first adnate, then truly decurrent, very crowded, very narrow, connected by veins, fragile, somewhat forked, shining white. Fries.