Weeping milk cap

Description

The weeping milk cap, formerly in Polish mleczaj smaczny, has a firm, rusty-orange cap 5–15 cm across, smooth or velvety, without bands. The gills are pale and turn brown when touched, and the stem is solid and paler than the cap. Most characteristic are the very abundant white latex, which flows from damaged gills and does not change colour, and the fishy smell of the fruiting body.

It grows from June to October in deciduous and coniferous forests, most often under beeches, oaks, hornbeams, aspens, spruces and pines. In Poland it is common, although mushroom pickers rarely collect it.

Many orange milkcaps look similar, but they have burning or bitter latex. If you are not sure of the species, do not pick it for eating.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 5–15 cm (descriptions give different ranges); young ones convex with a slightly inrolled margin, then almost flat with a dent, finally shallowly concave. No umbo. Surface smooth or velvety, without banding, rusty-orange, yellow-rusty or orange-brown (according to some descriptions from apricot to rusty); colour variable.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills fairly dense, adnate-decurrent, brittle, narrow, sometimes forked, with short gills between them. At first white, then pale yellowish to pale ochre; turn brown (rusty-brown) when damaged.

Stem

Height 4–12 cm, thickness 1–3.5 cm (descriptions give different ranges), cylindrical, solid, smooth or velvety, without a ring, much paler than the cap, usually orange-yellowish. Base without a volva.

Flesh

Firm, white in young ones, pale yellow to pale ochre in older ones. Smell fairly strong, fishy (resembles herring), intensifying after drying; does not affect the taste after cooking. Latex very abundant, white, not changing colour in air, mild in taste with a bitter aftertaste; leaves brown stains. Iron sulphate immediately stains the flesh dark blue-green. The flesh of unknown mushrooms should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print pale cream to whitish. Spores almost spherical, glassy, with a reticulate ornament and slight spines: 7.5–10 × 7.5–9.5 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Mycorrhizal fungus (ectomycorrhiza) with many deciduous and coniferous trees: beeches, oaks, hornbeams, aspens, spruces, pines; more frequent in deciduous forests, sometimes also in peat moss. Fruiting bodies singly or in groups, more abundantly in warm and wet weather.

Distribution. Temperate zone and part of the subtropical zone of the Northern Hemisphere: Europe, North America, Asia (China, Korea, Japan, India, Nepal), Morocco; according to some descriptions also Australia. Common in Poland, although rarely collected. In some countries (e.g. the Netherlands and Flanders) extinct or declining. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From June to October.

What can it be confused with?

• Lactarius subdulcis (mild milkcap) and Lactarius aurantiacus (Polish: mleczaj pomarańczowy) — Orange milkcaps hard to tell apart by appearance; the latex of these species is burning or bitter, while in the weeping milk cap it is mild, abundant and white; the cap of the weeping milk cap is uniformly rusty-orange.
• Lactifluus corrugis — More often wrinkled, darker gills, weaker or no smell, less orange; reliable microscopic distinction: larger spores (10.4–12.8 × 9.6–11.8 µm) with a thicker network. Occurs mainly in North America.
• Lactifluus hygrophoroides — Widely spaced gills, spores without a network.
• Lactarius subvelutinus — No fishy smell, narrow gills, white latex not changing colour; cap dull yellow-orange to bright golden-orange.

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

• The latex flows so abundantly from a damaged fruiting body that the name volemus alludes to “filling the hollow of the hand” with liquid.
• In West Virginia it is called “bradley”, perhaps from German Brätling.
• The fruiting bodies contain natural rubber (polyisoprene), which has been chemically characterised.