Lactarius circellatus

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Lactarius circellatus

Identified by Eric Janke. 29 July 2023 Hursley, Hampshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin.

Cap

Convex when young, soon expanding, then flattened with a depressed centre, smooth, slightly viscid, usually radially zoned, greyish to greyish brown, to about 10 cm across

Gills

Adnate to slightly decurrent, crowded, cream when young, becoming pinkish buff with age

Stem

Cylindrical, smooth, pale cream to greyish

Flesh

Fim, whitish, exuding a white milk which turns yellow on exposure to air

Smell

Fruity

Taste

Mild, then bitter to acrid

Season

Summer to autumn

Distribution

Infrequent

Habitat

On soil with hornbeam

Microscopic Features

Spores subglobose to ellipsoidal (5.5-8) x (4.5-6.5) µm2, Q = (1.1-1.4), with ridges and warts to 1 µm high in a zebra pattern.

Edibility

Inedible

Notes

Macroscopically rather similar to Lactarius pyrogalus