Part 6

29. Cap easily separable from the stem 30

Cap not easily separable from the stem 31

30. Stem with girdling veil (ring) and/or with a persistent cup-like structure at the base (volva); cap usually with warts or scales distributed on its surface Amanita

Stem with a ring but lacking a volva; cap surface powdery, hairy or scaly Lepiota & related genera

31. Cap, stem and gills brittle; stem never stiff and either exuding a milk-like juice or not; spores with spines or warts which stain blue-black in solutions containing iodine 32

Cap, stem and gills soft or if stem stiff then snapping when bent; gills never brittle 33

32. Fruit-body exuding a milk-like fluid Lactarius

Fruit-body not exuding milk-like fluid Russula

33. Gills thick, watery and lustrous (waxy) or with a bloom as if powdered with talc; often brightly coloured 34

Gills not waxy and rarely over 1·5 mm thick 36

34. Gills rather watery and lustrous (waxy); spores smooth 35

Gills rigid not watery, with powdery bloom; spores with distinct spines Laccaria

35. Fruit-body with a distinct veil and growing in woods; cap often viscid or pale coloured Hygrophorus

Fruit-body lacking a veil and usually growing in fields; cap usually brightly coloured and sometimes viscid Hygrocybe

36. Stem with girdling veil (ring) and/or stem not attached to the centre of the cap (eccentric) 37

Stem central and lacking a ring 38

37. Stem central and possessing a ring Armillaria

Stem not centrally attached to the cap members of the ‘Pleurotaceae’ (p. 74)

38. Stem fibrous 39

Stem stiff only in the outer layers 42

39. Gills with a concave indentation near the stem (sinuate) 40

Gills attached to and descending down the stem (decurrent) 41

40. Spores with warts which darken in solutions containing iodine Melanoleuca

Spores not so colouring in solutions containing iodine Tricholoma & related genera

41. Spores with warts which darken in solutions containing iodine Leucopaxillus

Spores not so colouring in solutions containing iodine Tricholoma & related genera

42. Gills thick and with rather blunt edges Cantharellula & Hygrophoropsis

Gills thin and with distinct and sharp edges 43