Lactarius decipiens Quél. (illustrated 45% life size) Cap 2–6cm across, flattened convex, later with a depression and often a small umbo, margin entire, even and regular to somewhat uneven and irregular; pale in colour, pinkish-buff or wash-leather-coloured to pale dull cinnamon, usually tinged with pinkish, lilac, or flesh, the centre sometimes rather darker; thin-fleshed, surface dry, matt. Stem 20–80×3–10mm, cylindrical to spindle-shaped; the upper part coloured as the cap margin and the lower as the centre or tinged rusty; surface matt. Flesh buffy whitish, becoming yellowish in places in about half an hour after exposure. Gills decurrent, closely spaced, fairly narrow; coloured as the cap margin but slightly darker. Milk abundant, white, becoming pale straw in around ten minutes and drying yellow on the gills or on absorbent white tissue; taste mild, later bitter and hot, smell of geraniums. Spores 7.5–9×6.5–7.5¼, broadly elliptical; warts medium-sized, mostly joined by thickish or thin ridges into an irregular, large-meshed network. Spore print cream (C–D). Cap surface filamentous. Habitat with hornbeam; summer to autumn. Uncommon. Not edible.
