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Mushroom Monday: Peppery Milkcap (Lactarius piperatus)
Today’s Mushroom Monday mushroom is Peppery Milkcap (Lactarius piperatus). Learn about it in our latest TrueTreeTalk blog post.
What are Lactarius mushrooms?
Lactarius is a genus of mushrooms. Although there are a lot of characteristics of these mushrooms, one is that they generally produce a milk-like latex when damaged or cut. We’ve featured three of these types of mushrooms on the blog before: Chocolate Milky (Lactarius lignyotus), Saffron Milkcaps, and Ugly Milkcap (Lactarius turpis). Peppery milkcap mushrooms produce a white milky substance when their gills are damaged. The milk stays white in the air, but can also yellow some.
What Type of Mushrooms are Peppery Milkcaps?
Peppery milkcap mushrooms are mycorrhizal mushrooms. They have a symbiotic relationship with hardwoods and different oaks and can be found growing from the soil around them either scattered or in groups in Europe and North America.
What do Peppery Milkcap Mushrooms Look Like?
The Caps
Peppery milkcap mushrooms have dry, hairless caps with even edges. The caps range in size from roughly 1.5 inches to around 6 inches across. They start out with a convex shape, but then become flatter and later somewhat concave. Their caps are generally white in color and can become slightly yellow/brown with age and can wrinkle some.
The Gills
The gills of peppery milkcap mushrooms are crowded. They start out white and over time become a pale cream color. They are attached to the stem and in some cases they go down the stem some.
The Stem
The stems range from a little over three quarters of an inch to a little over three inches in height. They are white and generally cylindrical, but can also taper some toward the base. They are hairless and solid.
If you liked learning about peppery milkcap (Lactarius piperatus) mushrooms, check out our other Mushroom Monday posts on our TrueTreeTalk blog. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with these and other posts.
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