The pileus is thin, nearly plane, broadly umbilicate or centrally depressed, sometimes infundibuliform, generally with a small umbo or papilla, minutely squamulose tomentose, gray or brownish-gray, becoming paler with age.
The gills are thin, close, adnate, or slightly decurrent, whitish or yellowish.
The stem is slender, equal or slightly tapering upward, rather fragile; stuffed or hollow; generally villose or tomentose at the base; paler than, or colored like, the pileus.
The spores are .0003 to .00035 inch; milk white, taste subacrid. Pileus is 6 to 18 lines broad, stem 1 to 2 inches long, 1 to 3 lines thick. Peck.
It resembles L. mammosus and L. cinereus. It differs from the former in not having ferruginous gills and pubescent stems, and from the latter by its smaller size, its densely pubescent pileus, and its habitat. It grows on mossy logs or in mossy swamps. The base of one of the plants in Figure 138 is covered with the moss in which they grew. These plants were found in Purgatory Swamp, near Boston, by Mrs. Blackford. They grow from July to September.
Lactarius distans. Pk.
The Distant-Gilled Lactarius. Edible.
Distans means distant, so called because the gills are very wide apart.
The pileus is firm, broadly convex or nearly plane, umbilicate or slightly depressed in the center; with a minute, velvety pruinosity; yellowish-tawny or brownish-orange.
The gills are rather broad, distant, adnate or slightly decurrent, white or creamy yellow, interspaces veined; milk white, mild.