Woolly Milkcap

Woolly Milkcap Lactarius torminosus (Schaeff.) Pers. (illustrated 45% life size) Cap 4–12cm across, convex becoming funnel-shaped, margin inrolled and hairy; pale salmon-buff to pale pink with deeper-coloured, indistinct, concentric bands. Stem 40–80×10–20mm; pale flesh-coloured to salmon; soon hollow, finely downy. Flesh white. Gills slightly decurrent, narrow; pale flesh-coloured to pale salmon. Milk white; taste hot and acrid. Spores 7.5–10×6–7.5¼, ovate; low warts connected by ridges forming a very incomplete network. Spore print yellowish-cream (C–D) with faint salmon tint. Habitat woods and heaths, usually with birch; late summer to early autumn. Common. Poisonous.