Salmon milkcap

Description

The salmon milkcap is a saffron-milk-cap-like mushroom with a cap 5–15 cm across, orange-yellow or peachy, with darker concentric bands. When damaged it exudes orange latex, which darkens over time to minium-red and wine-red. The fruiting bodies practically do not turn green, and the stem is short, brittle and hollow inside.

It grows exclusively under firs, in coniferous and mixed forests, from September to November. In Poland it is found mainly in the mountains (Pieniny, Gorce, Babia Góra) and on the Roztocze.

It is very similar to other milkcaps called saffron milk caps, and telling them apart by appearance is sometimes difficult. The best clue is the habitat under firs. Pick only mushrooms you have identified with certainty.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 5–15 cm; in young specimens convex, then flat with a depressed centre, sometimes irregular or lobed. Surface smooth, sticky, orange-yellow, peach-yellow or orange, concentrically zoned with rusty-orange bands; in wet weather wine-brown spots may appear. There is no green colour; only in old fruiting bodies a greenish tinge may appear. Margin inrolled and slightly frosted, smooth in old ones.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills slightly running down the stem, moderately dense, sometimes forked near the stem; in young ones pale ochre with an orange tinge (according to some descriptions salmon-orange, paler than the cap). Do not turn green when damaged, at most they redden.

Stem

Height 3–6 cm, thickness 1–2.5 cm, cylindrical, brittle; at first solid, quickly becomes hollow. Colour like the cap, surface delicately frosted. No ring.

Flesh

Cream. When damaged it immediately exudes orange, slightly bitter latex, which after about 10 minutes changes to minium-red and after 1–2 hours to orange-brown or wine-red. Smell faint, fruity; taste mild, slightly acrid, bitterish with time. The flesh of unknown mushrooms should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print from pale ochre and pale yellow to orange (descriptions give different colours). Spores oval, 9–10 × 7–8 µm, with warts partly joined into a network (height of ornament up to 0.5 µm).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial mycorrhizal fungus (ectomycorrhiza), exclusively with firs; in coniferous and mixed forests.

Distribution. North America, Europe and Asia. In Central Europe locally common (e.g. in the Alps), rare elsewhere. In Poland mainly in the mountains: Pieniny, Gorce, Babia Góra, Roztocze. Listed on the lists of threatened species in Austria and Germany. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. September–November.

What can it be confused with?

• Lactarius deliciosus (saffron milk cap) — Very similar; differs mainly in habitat (under pines) and turns green more strongly when damaged; distinguishing by appearance alone is sometimes difficult.
• Lactarius deterrimus (false saffron milkcap) — Grows under spruces; fruiting bodies turn green when damaged or with age, which does not happen in the salmon milkcap.
• Lactarius porninsis (larch milkcap) — Grows under larches; detailed differences — no data.
• Lactarius sanguifluus (Polish: mleczaj czerwieniejący) and Lactarius semisanguineus (Polish: mleczaj zmienny) — Detailed differences — no data; telling them apart by appearance alone is difficult. Features of the salmon milkcap: habitat under firs, small amount of orange latex, no green colour and no greening when damaged.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• Unlike other milkcaps, it almost never becomes wormy.
• It is listed on the lists of threatened species in Austria and Germany.
• It has many local names, e.g. the Italian “fungo del sangue” (“blood mushroom”) and the French “lactaire couleur de saumon”.
• It was described by Roger Heim and A. Leclair; description from 1953.