Purple Swamp Brittlegill

Purple Swamp Brittlegill Russula nitida (Pers.) Fr. (illustrated 60% life size) Cap 2–6cm across, convex then flattening or with a depression, margin usually strongly furrowed; variable in colour, purplish to red hues, or often rather pale, washed-out colours, greyish-rose, wine, buff, or greenish, the latter often in the centre with the margin reddish or purplish; thin-fleshed, fragile; up to two-thirds peeling. Stem 20–90×5–20mm, narrow club-shaped; white or rose-tinted; fairly firm to fragile. Flesh white; taste mild or very slightly hot. Gills adnexed-free, fairly widely spaced and allowing the connecting veins at their bases to be seen easily; straw. Spores 8–11×6–9µ, ovate; spines to 0.7µ or more high, fine lines absent or nearly so. Spore print pale ochre (E–G). Cap cystidia abundant, cylindrical or narrowly club-shaped, with 0–1 septa, strongly reacting to SV. Habitat with birch, especially in damp places; summer to autumn. Frequent. Edible.