Russula mairei    Singer 

common name(s) : Beechwood Sickener 

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

synonyms: Russula nobilis, Russula emetica-mairei 

edibility : poisonous

potential confusions with Russula mairei toxicity of Russula mairei genus Russula  

The cap is bright red to carmine red, rose to whitish; its margin is smooth. The cap surface is smooth, not viscid nor sticky.

The stem is pure white, without ring.

The flesh is white, unchanging; its taste is acrid; the odour is faint, fruity or of coconut for young specimens; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are cream, free, crowded . The spore print is white. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, under broad-leaved trees, on a rather calcareous soil, with beech.

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 6 cm (between 2 and 9 cm)
  height of stem approximately 4 cm (between 2 and 6 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 13 mm (between 5 and 20 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming ochraceous (without orange) when in contact with iron sulphate; positive reaction to Gaïac (rather bright blue); strong purple reaction of cap cystidia to sulpho-vanillin.

Distinctive features : with beech; gills white then pale cream; pink flesh under cap surface; odour of honey when old; tough flesh

Russula mairei is rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Russula mairei in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Russula mairei in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18