Lactarius fumosus ‘Smoky Milk Cap’
Medium sized dry cap that is dull light pale buff-brown with paler patches. Convex becoming flat with irregular paler margin and darker central disc. Gills are crowded to close, attached, slightly decurrent, and white to buff. Stem is color of cap, dry with a paler base, longer than the cap is wide and turns pinkish with handling. White latex that doesn’t change color, but stains gills and flesh pinkish-red. Spore print is cream to buff. Can be found summer and fall in mixed forests. Taste is mild to somewhat acrid. Lookalikes include Lactarius subplinthogalus and Lactarius fuliginosus. This is in the Russulacae family of the Russulales order.
Lactarius fumosus
Lactarius fumosus