Lactarius hepaticus    Plowright 

common name(s) : Liver Milkcap 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Incertae sedis/Russulales/Russulaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Russulales/Russulaceae  

synonyms: Lactarius curtus ss.auct. 

edibility : discard

photo gallery of  Lactarius hepaticus
photo gallery of  Lactarius hepaticus potential confusions with  Lactarius hepaticus toxicity of Lactarius hepaticus genus Lactarius  

The cap is chestnut-brown, liver-brown to reddish brown. The cap surface is smooth, not viscid nor sticky.

its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick), exuding when cut a white milk, turning yellow in 2 mns.

The gills are decurrent to adnate, crowded . The spore print is white. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in coniferous woods, on a rather acid soil, most of the time with pine, but also with spruce and Douglas pine.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 5 cm (between 2 and 7 cm)
  height of stem approximately 5 cm (between 3 and 7 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 7 mm (between 4 and 15 mm)

Chemical tests : none.

Distinctive features : reddish-brown (chestnut) colour, with greenish shades; white milk turning yellow in 2 minutes; acrid and bitter taste; with conifers

Lactarius hepaticus is quite rare and scattered in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Lactarius hepaticus in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Lactarius hepaticus in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18