Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American fungi / How to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and avoid the poisonous, with full botanic descriptions. Toadstool poisons and their treatment, instructions to students, recipes for cooking, etc., etc.

by Charles McIlvaine; Robert K. Macadam

Both the appearance and smell of this Russula will detect it. The peculiar comb-like furrows of its margin, viscid or varnished-looking cap, and strong but more spicy smell than cherry-bark are noticeable.

It is edible, but so strong in flavor that a piece of one will spoil a dish if cooked with other kinds.

R. ochroleu´ca Fr. Gr—pale yellow; Gr—white. Pileus yellow, becoming pale, fleshy, flattened or depressed, polished, with an adnate pellicle, the spreading margin becoming even. Stem spongy, stuffed, firm, slightly reticulato-wrinkled, white, becoming cinereous. Gills rounded behind, united, broad, somewhat equal, white becoming pale.

Odor obsolete, but pleasant. The pileus is never reddish. It agrees wholly with R. emetica in structure and stature, as well as in the acrid taste; it differs however in the stem being slightly recticulato-wrinkled, white becoming cinereous, in the adnate pellicle of the pileus, in the margin remaining for a long time even (remotely striate, but not tubercular, only when old), and in the gills being rounded behind and becoming pale. The color of the pileus is constant. The gills remain free and do not exude drops. Fries.

Cap 2–4 in. across. Stem 2–3 in. long, up to ¾ in. thick.

Spores papillose, 7µ W.G.S., 8×9µ Massee.

Frequent in woods. July to October.

Not as common as R. emetica, yet frequently found, usually solitary, at times gregarious. It is quite peppery, but loses pepperiness in cooking. Myself and others have frequently eaten it.

R. ci´trina Gillet—citrina, citron colored. Mild. Pileus 2–3 in. across, slightly fleshy at the disk, margin thin; convex then more or less expanded and slightly depressed, rather viscid when moist, smooth, slightly wrinkled at the margin when old, bright lemon-yellow, color usually uniform, sometimes paler at the margin, occasionally with a greenish tint, center of pileus at length becoming pale-ochraceous; pellicle separable. Gills slightly decurrent, broadest a short distance from the margin, and gradually becoming narrower towards the base, forked at the base and also sometimes near the middle, white, 1½ lines deep at broadest part. Stem 2–3 in. long, about 4 lines thick, equal or slightly narrowed at the base, slightly wrinkled, straight or very slightly waved, solid.

Spores subglobose, echinulate, 8µ diameter.