Figure 120.—Lactarius fuliginosus. Cap and stem smoky, cap usually not wrinkled; gills white, then light ochre, distant (natural size). Copyright.
The pileus is thin, at first firm, becoming soft, convex, then plane and often somewhat depressed in the center, usually even, dry, the margin in old plants crenately wavy, dull gray or smoky gray in color, with a fine down or tomentum. The gills are adnate, distant, more so in old plants, white, then yellowish, sometimes changing to salmon color or reddish where bruised. The spores are yellowish in mass, faintly yellow under the microscope, strongly echinulate or tuberculate, globose, 6–10 µ. The stem is usually paler than the pileus, firm, stuffed. The milk is white, slowly acrid to the taste.
Figure [120] is from plants (No. 3867, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.
Lactarius gerardii Pk.—This plant was described by Dr. Peck in the 26th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 65, and in the 28th Rept. p. 129. According to the descriptions it differs from Lactarius fuliginosus only in the spores being white, the gills more distant, and the taste being constantly mild. Since the taste in L. fuliginosus is sometimes mild, or slowly acrid, and the lamellæ in the older plants are more distant, the spores sometimes only tinged with yellow, there does not seem to be a very marked difference between the two species. In fact all three of these species, fuliginosus, lignyotus and gerardii, seem to be very closely related. Forms of fuliginosus approach lignyotus in color, and the pileus sometimes is rugose wrinkled, while in lignyotus pale forms occur, and the pileus is not always rugose wrinkled. The color of the bruised lamellæ is the same in the two last species and sometimes the change in color is not marked.
Figure 121.—Lactarius torminosus. Cap ochraceous and pink hues, with zones of darker color, margin of cap wooly (natural size, often much larger). Copyright.
Lactarius torminosus (Schaeff.) Fr.—This plant is widely distributed in Europe, Asia, as well as in America. It is easily recognised by the uneven mixture of pink and ochraceous colors, and the very hairy or tomentose margin of the cap. The plants are 5–10 cm. high, the cap about the same breadth, and the stem 1–2 cm. in thickness. It occurs in woods on the ground during late summer and autumn.