Sickener

Description

The sickener has a bright red, glossy and sticky cap, usually 4–8 cm across, pure white, brittle gills and a white, delicate stem without a ring. The cap skin is easily peeled. The flesh is white, and the taste is very hot, lingering in the mouth for a long time.

It grows from early summer to late autumn, mainly in damp coniferous forests, on acidic, mossy soil, under pines and spruces. In Poland it is very common.

There are hundreds of red-capped brittlegills in Europe, and some of them can be told apart only under a microscope, so colour alone must not be relied on. The species is poisonous: even a small amount causes nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Do not collect red brittlegills for eating unless you are certain of the species.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter usually 4–8 cm, exceptionally up to 11 cm (2.5–10 cm according to some descriptions). Convex when young, then flattened, often depressed, sometimes with a shallow small umbo. Skin smooth, glossy and sticky in wet weather, peelable almost to the centre. Colour vermilion, blood-red to cherry, centre bright red; fades to pale pink or orange, may have white patches. In mature specimens the margin is grooved for 2–7 mm.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills pure white to cream, thin, crowded, brittle, attached to almost free (slightly attached at the stem), with connecting veins, sometimes forked near the margin.

Stem

Height 3.5–6 cm (4.5–10.5 cm according to some descriptions), thickness 0.8–1.3 cm (0.7–2.4 cm according to some descriptions), cylindrical, sometimes club-shaped in the lower part. Surface white, dry, finely mossy or smooth. At first solid, quickly cottony or partly hollow. No ring or veil.

Flesh

White, brittle, usually pink just under the skin. Smell pleasant, faintly fruity or spicy; taste bitter, very hot and lingering in the mouth for a long time. Do not taste it.

Spore print and spores

Spore print cream (white to yellowish-white according to some descriptions). Spores broadly ellipsoid, with numerous conical spines, amyloid. Dimensions about 7–11 × 6–8 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Mycorrhizal fungus; the partners are mainly conifers, especially pines, less often deciduous trees. Particularly frequent on acidic, damp, mossy soils, also among sphagnum near bogs. The fruiting bodies are food for squirrels and snails.

Distribution. Northern hemisphere, according to some descriptions on all continents; in Poland very common. Grows in coniferous forests (montane spruce and lowland pine), rare in deciduous forests. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From early summer to late autumn (from late summer to early winter according to some descriptions).

What can it be confused with?

• Russula paludosa (tall russula) — Has a stouter stem and the taste is not hot.
• Russula nobilis (beechwood sickener) — Grows only under beeches.
• Russula rhodopus — Stem with purple tints.
• Russula sanguinaria (bloody brittlegill) — Stem pinkish-reddish.
• Russula vesca (bare-toothed russula) and Russula xerampelina (crab brittlegill) — Sometimes confused; detailed differences: no data.
• Russula aurea, R. rugulosa, R. fragilis — R. aurea has yellow gills, stem and flesh under the red skin; R. rugulosa has a wrinkled skin, cream spore print and mild taste; R. fragilis has notched gills, and its stem turns blue with naphthol.

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

• It is the type species of the genus Russula, first described in 1774 by Jacob Christian Schäffer.
• The species name comes from Greek emetikos — "causing vomiting".
• The red pigments are water-soluble, so the fruiting bodies fade in rain and sun to pink or orange.
• In some regions of Hungary and Slovakia the cap skin, once removed, was used as a seasoning for goulash.