Part 16

The odours of many species are very distinct and vary from the smell of coconut and spice to those of various flowers; an odour commonly met with is termed ‘oily rancid resembling butter which has become mouldy’; in early books it was described as being the smell of bed-bugs!

The majority of the species are undoubtedly mycorrhizal: thus L. torminosus is found with birch, L. deliciosus and L. rufus with conifers and L. quietus with oak. Brief notes are given on additional species:--

~L. camphoratus~ (Fries) Fries

Curry-centred milk-cap

Cap: width 20-50 mm. Stem: length 20-50 mm; width 4-6 mm.

Cap and stem: red-brown.

Gills: reddish brown.

Flesh: reddish buff with an aromatic odour resembling spices which becomes very strong when dried and exudes a pale thin milk-like liquid.

Common in conifer woods and plantations.

~L. deliciosus~ (Fries) S. F. Gray

Saffron milk-cap

Cap: width 50-120 mm. Stem: length 20-60 mm; width 15-25 mm.

Cap: viscid, dirty greyish ochre with flush of tawny but soon becoming greenish with age.

Stem: dirty buff or greyish ochre, spotted with green particularly with age or on handling.

Gills: orange-yellow bruising deep orange but becoming green with time.

Flesh: pinkish to apricot-coloured but becoming green with age and exuding a rich orange-red fluid which gradually becomes greyish green.

Frequent in conifer woods and plantations.

~L. glyciosmus~ (Fries) Fries

Coconut-scented milk-cap

Cap: width 20-50 mm. Stem: length 30-50 mm; width 5-8 mm.

Cap: usually with a central ‘bump’, greyish lilac, dull and minutely scaly or velvety.

Stem: white to pale yellowish.

Gills: pale yellowish to flesh-coloured then flushed lilaceous.

Flesh: pale yellowish or flushed lilaceous, smelling strongly of desiccated coconut and exuding a white unchanging milk-like liquid.

In woods and on heaths, particularly where birch is growing.

~L. quietus~ (Fries) Fries

Oak milk-cap

Cap: width 30-80 mm. Stem: length 40-80 mm; width 10-15 mm.