Spores whitish, Fries; spheroid, 8–10µ K.
Krapp says he has experienced grave inconveniences from eating it. European authorities mark “poisonous.”
I do not hesitate to cook it either by itself or with other Russulæ and serve it at my table. It is easier cooked than R. virescens and others of the crisp species, and has equal flavor.
R. Linnæ´i Fr.—in honor of Linnæus. Pileus 3–4 in. broad, unicolorous, dark purple, blood-red or bright rose, opaque, not becoming pale, everywhere fleshy, rigid, plano-depressed, sometimes spread upward, even, smooth, dry, without a separable pellicle, margin spreading, obtuse, without striæ. Flesh thick, spongy-compact, white. Stem 1½ in. and more long, 1 in. and more thick, stout, firm, but spongy-soft within, somewhat ventricose, obsoletely reticulated with fibers, intensely blood-red. Gills adnate, somewhat decurrent, rather thick, not crowded, broad (more than ½ in.), fragile, sparingly connected by veins, white, becoming yellow when dry, with a few dimidiate ones intermixed, somewhat anastomosing behind. Fries.
Spores wholly white, Fries; ellipsoid, spheroid, echinulate, 11µ Q.; 9–11×8–9µ Massee.
West Virginia, 1881–1885. West Philadelphia, Pa., on Bartram’s Botanic creek. McIlvaine.
R. Linnæi is one of our handsomest and best Russulæ. European authors state its habit to be exactly that of R. emetica, but though I have known it intimately for many years I have not been struck with this in the American plant. Its large size, its more or less red stem never entirely white, at times hollow, cavernous, its less solid flesh, habit of growing in troops, sometimes parts of rings, flourishing best where the leaf mat is heaviest, loving the leaf drift in fence-corners, are well marked distinctions.
When young there is no better Russula. As it ages the stem becomes soft, spongy and should be thrown away. The caps, only, eaten.
R. oliva´cea Fr.—oliva, an olive; olivaceus, the color of an olive. Pileus 2–4 in. across, dingy-purple then olivaceous or wholly brownish-olivaceous, fleshy, convexo-flattened and depressed, slightly silky and squamulose, margin spreading, even. Flesh white, becoming somewhat yellow. Stem firm, ventricose, rose-color to pallid, spongy-stuffed within. Gills adnexed, wide, yellow, with shorter and forked ones intermixed.
Mild. Near to R. rubra, but certainly distinct in the stem being definitely spongy, in the pileus being unpolished, and in the gills being soft and brightly colored; corresponding with R. alutacea. Fries.