Velvet Brittlegill

Velvet Brittlegill Russula violeipes Quél. (illustrated 55% life size) Cap 4–8cm across, somewhat globose at first then flattening and finally with a depression; straw, greenish-yellow (f. citrina) or olive tints, often in part or sometimes entirely livid red, livid purple, lilac, or wine-coloured; thick-fleshed, hard, powdered; hardly peeling. Stem 40–70×10–30mm; white, often tinged yellow, violet, purple, or wine-coloured; firm, often powdered, especially above. Flesh white; taste mild, smell slight, of shrimps when fresh. Gills slightly decurrent, pale buff-straw; greasy to the touch. Spores 6.5–9×6–8µ, ovate; warts 0.7–1µ high, joined by lines or ridges to form a fairly well-developed network. Spore print cream (C–D). No cap cystidia and very few on the gills, not reacting to SV; terminal cells of cap hyphae mostly tapering, supporting cells mostly inflated, sometimes balloon-shaped; gill margin fringed with tapering cells. Habitat with broad-leaved trees; summer to early autumn. Occasional. Edible.