Russula virescens    (Schaeff.) Fr. 

common name(s) : Greencracked Brittlegill, Green-cracking Russula 

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

edibility : edible, good

photo gallery of  Russula virescens
photo gallery of  Russula virescens potential confusions with  Russula virescens toxicity of Russula virescens genus Russula  

The cap is green, cracked, sometimes ochre or white; its margin is striate when mature. The cap surface is smooth, not viscid nor sticky.

The stem is white washed with rust at the base, without ring.

The flesh is unchanging; its taste is mild; the odour is faint, pleasant, sometimes of cheese; its texture is grainy (breaking like a chalk stick).

The gills are cream, free, distant . The spore print is whitish. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in broad-leaved and coniferous woods, on a rather acid soil, with oak, beech, chestnut, ash, birch.

The fruiting period takes place from May to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 10 cm (between 2 and 15 cm)
  height of stem approximately 6 cm (between 2 and 10 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 25 mm (between 10 and 50 mm)

Chemical tests : flesh becoming salmon pink when in contact with iron sulphate; faint or medium reaction to Gaïac; strong purple reaction of cap cystidia to sulpho-vanillin.

Distinctive features : greenish cap, with a cracked surface forming polygonal patches; white to cream gills, stained with rust; white flesh becoming brown with age

Russula virescens is occasional and widely present in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Russula virescens in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Russula virescens in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18