The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise / Its Habitat and its Time of Growth

by Miron Elisha Hard

The Orange-Brown Lactarius. Edible.

Photo by Prof. Atkinson.

Figure 142.—Lactarius volemus. Natural size. Caps golden-tawny. Milk copious, as will be seen where the plant has been pricked.

Volemus from volema pira, a kind of a pear, so called from the shape of the stem. The pileus is broad, flesh thick, compact, rigid, plane, then expanded, obtuse, dry, golden-tawny, at length somewhat wrinkly.

The gills are crowded, adnate or slightly decurrent, white, then yellowish; milk copious, sweet.

The stem is solid, hard, blunt, generally curved like a pear-stem; its color is that of the pileus but a shade lighter. Spores globose, white.

The milk in this species is very abundant and rather pleasant to the taste. It becomes quite sticky as it dries on your hands. This plant has a good record among mushroom eaters, both in this country and Europe.

There is no danger of mistaking it. The plants grow in damp woods from July to September. They are found singly or in patches. They were found quite plentifully about Salem, Ohio, and also about Chillicothe.