A large, slimy, yellow to orange-yellow milk cap of spruce forests. It has a woolly inrolled margin and a short stem marked with darker, shiny, oval pits (scrobicules). Its creamy white latex turns sulphur yellow in air. North American collections under this name are probably a separate taxon.
Poisonous; causes gastrointestinal upset including stomach pain, vomiting and a burning throat. Unlikely to be fatal. In parts of eastern Europe and Russia it is eaten after repeated boiling, salting or pickling, but symptoms may still occur. Do not eat.
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Habitat
Mycorrhizal, mainly with spruce, also in conifer and birch forests, preferring damp, shady, boggy ground; in troops or rings, summer to autumn.
Distribution
Throughout mainland Europe; in Britain recorded mainly in Scotland. In North America it is rarer, though locally common. North American material is treated as var. canadensis (Pacific Northwest and elsewhere), which sources suggest is probably a separate species.
Characteristics
Cap: 5-15 cm, convex becoming depressed to broadly funnel-shaped; margin inrolled and fringed with woolly strands; yellow to yellow-orange with small scales in indistinct concentric rings; slimy when wet, bruising dirty brown. Gills: adnate to shortly decurrent, crowded, whitish becoming yellow or pale orange, sometimes with darker patches. Stem: 3-6 cm long, 1.3-3.5 cm thick, short and stout, hollow, pale yellow with darker oval pits; base downy; no ring. Flesh: white, turning yellow in air. Latex: copious, creamy white, turning sulphur yellow. Odor: faintly fruity or not distinctive. Taste: very hot and acrid. Spore print: cream. Spores: 9-11 x 7.5-9 µm, broadly ellipsoid, with low warts joined by incomplete ridges (First Nature).
