bearded milkcap

Description:

to draw people to my spotting, i first tried "much info" & "good picture", BUT now: HYPNOSIS---- Lactarius torminosus, commonly known as the woolly milkcap or the bearded milkcap, is a large basidiomycete fungus in the genus Lactarius. It is found in the United Kingdom, North Africa, northern Asia, Northern Europe, and is common in North America, where it grows in mixed forests in a mycorrhizal association with various trees, most commonly birch. Although it is valued for its peppery flavour and eaten after pickling in Russia and Finland, it is highly irritating to the digestive system when eaten raw. The toxins responsible for the acrid taste are destroyed by cooking (wikipedia)

Habitat:

location: North America, Europe edibility: Poisonous/Suspect fungus colour: Red or redish or pink, Brown, Grey to beige normal size: 5-15cm cap type: Convex to shield shaped stem type: Simple stem flesh: Flesh exudes white or watery latex (milk) when cut, Flesh granular or brittle spore colour: White, cream or yellowish habitat: Grows in woods, Grows on the ground Lactarius torminosus (Schaeff. ex Fr.) S. F. Gray. Wolliger Milchling, Birkenreizker, Lactaire à toison, Woolly Milkcap. Cap 4–12cm across, convex becoming funnel-shaped, margin inrolled and hairy, pale salmon buff to pale pink with deeper-coloured indistinct concentric bands. Stem 40–80 x 10–20mm, pale flesh-coloured to salmon, finely downy. Flesh white, soon hollow in stem. Gills slightly decurrent, narrow, pale flesh-coloured to pale salmon. Milk white; taste hot and acrid. Spore print yellowish-cream (C–D) with faint salmon tint. Spores oval with low warts connected by ridges forming a very incomplete network, 7.5–10 x 6–7.5 μ. Habitat woods and heaths, usually with birch. Season late summer to early autumn. Frequent. Poisonous. Distribution, America and Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

Lactarius is a large genus of mycorrhizal mushrooms that exude a "latex," or milk, when injured. In some species the milk is copious, and it almost seems to pour out of the mushroom when you slice it or damage the gills. In other species the milk can be scanty to almost nonexistent--especially in older specimens that have grown in dry weather. A few mushrooms in other genera exude a juice (for example, Mycena haematopus) but most of these lack the other features that help to define the genus Lactarius: crumbly flesh, like the flesh of russulas (to which species of Lactarius are closely related) and caps that are often about as wide as the mushroom is tall. Many species (though certainly not all) have caps that feature concentric zones of color, and many have caps and/or stems that feature tiny potholes ("scrobiculi" in Lactarius-speak). ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lactarius.... ), ( http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Li... ), ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactarius_t... )