Insulsus, insipid or tasteless. This is a very attractive plant. Quite solid and maintains its form for several days; The pileus is two to four inches broad, convex, depressed in the center, then funnel-shaped, smooth, viscid when moist, more or less zoned, the zones much narrower than L. scrobiculatus, yellowish or straw-color, margin slightly incurved and naked.
The gills are thin, rather crowded, adnate and sometimes decurrent, some of them forked at the base, whitish or pallid. Spores subglobose, rough, 10×8µ.
The stem is one to two inches long, equal or slightly tapering downward, stuffed, whitish, generally spotted. Milk, white.
Most authorities class this as an edible plant, but it is so hot and the flesh so solid that I have never tried it. I found two plants which fully answered the description of the European plants. The zones were orange-yellow and brick-red. I have visited the place many times since, but have never been able to find another. It is not an abundant plant with us. Found from July to October, in open woods.
Lactarius lignyotus. Fr.
The Sooty Lactarius. Edible.
Photo by C. G. Lloyd.
Plate XXI. Figure, 136.—Lactarius lignyotus.
Natural size. Caps a sooty umber. Flesh mild to the taste.