The red-brown mushroom is a representative of the Russula family. This mushroom is also known under the names milkweed, smoothysh, euphorbia, rubella, rootlet and subduenok. It is an edible type of mushroom.

The Latin name for the mushroom is Lactarius volemus.

The cap of the red-brown breast is very fleshy, its shape is at first rounded-convex, and later becomes prostrate, with a small dent in the center and curved edges. The structure of the cap is dense. Its diameter is 5-15 centimeters. Its surface is thin-fibrous, and with age it becomes naked. Sometimes cracks appear on the cap. The hat is covered with a smooth, almost dry skin, matte orange in color.

The pulp is dense, brittle, whitish in color. The flesh tastes sweet, young specimens have a pleasant smell, and in old age the smell of herring appears. A sticky, abundant milky juice is released from the pulp. In air, it quickly turns brownish-gray. Milky juice tastes bitter.

The leg is thick, in girth up to 3 centimeters and 4-10 centimeters long, cylindrical, slightly narrowed downwards. Its surface is velvety. The color of the leg is slightly lighter than that of the cap.

There are plates under the cap, they are fleshy, but narrow, they are often located. The plates can be adherent or slightly descend on the leg. The color of the plates is whitish, with a yellowish or pink tint. If you touch the plates, brown spots appear on them. Spore powder of light ocher or whitish color. Spores are mesh, rounded.

The variability of the rootlets and the similarity with other species.

The color of the cap varies from yellow-orange to light red-brown. There are darker spots in the center of the cap. The stem is paler in comparison with the cap, and in the upper part it may be yellower.

The color of the plates varies from pale yellow to cream. The flesh is whitish in color, but becomes brown over time.

A variety of reddish brown beads called Lactarius volemus var. Oedematopus, a darker reddish brown or honey coloration.

Outwardly, the red-brown mushroom looks like a non-caustic lactarius. But this milkman has a smaller size, his skin is smooth and non-cracking.

Places of growth of a red-brown lump.

Red-brown mushrooms form mycorrhiza with deciduous trees. You can find euphorbia in deciduous, mixed forests and conifers. They settle in damp places. These mushrooms also grow in mountainous areas, at an altitude of up to 1000 meters. Although it is a widespread species, it is quite rare. Fruit bodies are found both alone and in small groups. Beard bears fruit from August to October.

Evaluation of the taste of red-brown mushrooms.

Red-brown mushrooms are edible, and in the west they are considered a delicacy, but among Russian mushroom pickers they are not very popular. They are classified as conditionally edible species, they are assigned the 1st category. These mushrooms are suitable for pickling and pickling.

Smoothies should not be eaten raw, like champignons. Of course, they are not poisonous, but they need proper treatment. The collected milk mushrooms are soaked in cold water for 2-3 days, while the water is changed 3 times a day. After soaking, not only bitterness but also toxic substances leave the milk mushrooms. Then they should be boiled for about 20 minutes, and then cook at your discretion.

The benefits of red-brown milk mushrooms.

The main value of red-brown milk mushrooms is their high protein content. There is more protein in milk mushrooms than in chicken and beef. Moreover, this protein is well absorbed by the body.

In addition, milk mushrooms contain riboflavin, thiamine and ascorbic acid. In addition, milk mushrooms are the only non-animal product that can boast the presence of vitamin D in the composition, which is why vegetarians appreciate them.

Another useful property of the poddubenka is that it does not increase blood sugar levels, that is, these mushrooms can be safely eaten by diabetics. Also, red-brown milk mushrooms are recommended for those wishing to lose weight, as they remove toxins and excess fluid from the body.

Milk mushrooms are used in folk medicine. With their regular use, the work of the nervous system is normalized, neuroses and depression disappear. Most often, in folk medicine, bears are used to treat pulmonary emphysema, cholelithiasis and urolithiasis.

Red-brown milk mushrooms have an antibacterial effect, so they are useful during epidemic seasons. Milk mushrooms strengthen the mucous membrane of the lungs and bronchi. They prevent the reproduction of Koch's bacillus. They are even used to produce drugs for tuberculosis.

Rubella contains substances that prevent the formation of uric acid salts in the kidneys, that is, these mushrooms help with urolithiasis. Adherents of traditional medicine recommend using fried milk mushrooms to remove stones. They should also be included in the ischemic diet.

The most beneficial are salted milk mushrooms, since during the fermentation process they have a high enzymatic activity, that is, they have an anti-inflammatory and anti-sclerotic effect. Red-brown milk mushrooms cleanse blood vessels.

Rubella is not only eaten, but also used externally. Alcohol tincture with these mushrooms helps to get rid of acne. It is also assumed that milk mushrooms can remove warts, for this a piece of fresh or salted mushroom is applied to the wart, after a week of daily use of such compresses, the wart disappears.

Harm of a red-brown breast.

Experts do not recommend eating red-brown milk mushrooms if you have problems with the gastrointestinal tract, pancreatitis, gastritis, eating disorders, ulcers and liver diseases. Milk mushrooms are heavy food. They are not recommended for children under 6 years of age.

It should be understood that any mushrooms, including milk mushrooms, can harm the body if they are collected along roads and within the city limits, since they accumulate harmful substances from the air and soil.

Related species of woodcutters.

The papillary mushroom is also a conditionally edible mushroom. Due to its size, it is also called a large weight. His cap is concave-prostrate or flat, with a tubercle in the center. The color of the cap is gray-brown or bluish-gray, often with a pink or purple tint. In adulthood, the caps become dry, yellow in color. The mushroom leg is cylindrical, with time it becomes hollow inside, smooth to the touch, whitish in color. The pulp is white, with a sweet taste, odorless. Milky juice is not too plentiful, white, at first it seems sweet, but then bitter.

Papillary milk mushrooms bear fruit in August-September. They grow in deciduous, mixed forests and conifers. These mushrooms live on sandy soil. They come across only in groups, and do not grow singly.

The orange milky is an inedible relative of the red-brown milkweed. The cap changes with age from convex to funnel-shaped. It is covered with an orange peel. After rain, the hat becomes sticky and slippery. The knife is cylindrical, narrowed at the base, initially solid, and then hollow, slightly lighter in color than the cap. Milky sap is very sticky and acrid, white in color. The pulp is fibrous, dense in structure, with a faint smell of orange peel.

Orange lactarias grow in deciduous forests. They meet in small groups and singly. Fruiting in orange milkmen is observed from summer to autumn. These mushrooms enter into mutually beneficial alliances with deciduous trees.

For some reason, this mushroom is not particularly favored by Russian mushroom pickers, although it is found quite infrequently and should arouse some interest. The fact is that the leaf support has several characteristic features, which, most likely, scare away those who like "quiet hunting". What is interesting about this mushroom, where is it collected and how can it be used?

Rosewood (Lactarius volemus) is an edible representative of the mushroom kingdom, which belongs to the russula family, genus Mlechnik. The species also has many other names:

• thresher;
• smooth and smooth;
• spurge;
• subduin;
• rubella.

The description of the bearing, which is given by mycologists in reference books, is as follows:

• the cap is fleshy, rather large, with a diameter of 5 to 15 cm, in some cases it reaches up to 20 cm. Convex with a slight concavity or a tubercle in the middle in young fruiting bodies, eventually turns into a prostrate with a depressed center or funnel-shaped. The edges of the cap are tucked up, thinning with age. The surface is velvety and dry to the touch, and may crack as the fungus develops. The skin is matte, does not have concentric circles, the color is light orange, red-yellow, red, brown-red. In the middle of the cap, the color is darker, and at the edges it is lighter;
• the leg of the support is thick, up to 4 cm in diameter, even or slightly swollen, cylindrical, 4-12 cm high. With age, a cavity appears inside it. Nice to the touch, velvety, smooth. The surface color is the same as that of the skin on the cap, or slightly lighter, which is more common;
• the pulp is dense, but easily breaks, when damaged it darkens and secretes in large quantities a milky juice with a sweetish or resinous-bitter aftertaste. In the air, it acquires a dark brown color and changes its consistency to caramel-viscous. The pulp is white, sweet, smells distinctly of herring or crabs in mature mushrooms;
• plates are yellowish or pink-white, darkening as the mushroom matures and when damaged or from touch, frequent, branched, slightly descending along the stem;
• spores are light yellow or whitish.

Places of distribution and period of fruiting

The thresher (Lactarius volemus) grows in various forests, is found in the mountains, preferring to settle in humid and mossy places. Can be seen near the remains of dead trees. Forms mycorrhiza with representatives of deciduous or coniferous species, usually with hazel, oak. It is rare and usually grows in groups or singly, but it is quite widespread. The mushroom begins to bear fruit in mid-summer and ends no earlier than October.

Similar species and how to distinguish from them

The red-brown milk mushroom, which is rare for mushroom pickers, is not so easy to confuse with other species of the mushroom kingdom. An inexperienced mushroom picker can be mistaken for and mistaken for the hero of the article an inedible gray-pink lactarius (Lactarius helvus), but these mushrooms are easy to distinguish without detecting a large amount of white juice and a characteristic odor (gray-pink smells like dry grass). And his hat is much paler.

The edible hygrophoroid lactarius (Lactarius hygrophoroides) differs from the leaflet by its colorless milky sap and less often located plates. And the conditionally edible non-caustic milky (Lactarius mitissimus) is smaller, the skin on the cap is not cracked.

Interestingly, from a distance, the spurge can be confused with the common real mushroom (Lactarius deliciosus). Also similar to it is the neutral milky (Lactarius quietus), a conditionally edible mushroom, characterized by a yellowish milky juice and the absence of the smell of fish.

Primary processing and preparation

Euphorbia or, as it is also called, red-brown milk mushroom is an edible type of mushroom III or IV (judging by different sources) of the flavor category. Holders are fried, salted or pickled.

For the preparation of various dishes, only young fresh mushrooms are used. To remove the unpleasant odor, it is recommended to boil them.

In the West, milkshake is considered a delicious mushroom, but in Russia mushroom pickers for some reason do not like it. Probably frightens off a specific aroma. Although you shouldn't pass by when you meet with a leaf-bearing - you can easily cut it off and put it in your basket. Moreover, he is never wormy.

The miller mushroom is a rare guest in our forests. Finding it is hard enough. But sometimes we accept it and just don't take it among our trophies. Nevertheless, you should know what the milkweed mushroom looks like and why it is popularly called the euphorbia mushroom.

The cap of the euphorbia mushroom has a dense, fleshy consistency. It grows up to 10 cm in diameter. The shape is flat, convex, and acquires a funnel-shaped compression towards the center. The mushroom is dry and naked to the touch. The color of the cap of the milky mushroom can vary from a reddish-brown hue to a bright yellow-brown color. May have a tendency to crack the outer surface of the cap.

The pulp is white in the cut. However, in the open air it quickly takes on a brown hue. A large amount of milky juice of a dazzling white color is released on the cut. It is this characteristic feature that gave the mushroom the name of milkweed or milkweed. Unlike other milky mushrooms, the milkshake has a special milky juice. Outdoors, it quickly darkens and turns black. At the same time, it acquires the properties of soft rubber. It tastes absolutely different from other milky mushrooms. Milkweed or milkweed juice has a mild pleasant sweetish taste that does not change with the age of the mushroom.

What does a spurge mushroom look like?

As you already understood, the euphorbia mushroom is the same milkweed mushroom. Accordingly, it looks exactly the same. Note that it has a completely characteristic leg. It must be of the same color with the shade of the hat.

The plates on the inner side of the cap should also coincide in light with the outer surface. The leg of the mushroom is swollen in the middle, its length reaches 10 cm.

Where can you find the milky mushroom

Finding a milky mushroom is difficult enough. It grows in single specimens in rugged places and forests. For its growth, moss and the presence of rotten stumps are needed near the growing season.

This mushroom is quite pleasant to the taste and belongs to the fourth quality category. The food can be eaten both boiled and salted. No presoaking required. There is, however, a slight exception. Only young milkweed mushrooms are suitable for food. In adulthood, they have a very unpleasant smell of rotten herring and have an unpleasant taste.

The rootlet mushroom (Latin name Lactarius Volemus) is a rare guest that is found in our forests, belongs to the genus of lamellar mushrooms, to the Russulaceae family. Finding it is difficult enough. And many mushroom pickers are confident that this specimen is inedible. If you are going to the forest for mushrooms, you should know about what the spurge looks like in case you do come across it.

Popular names: milkweed, euphorbia, red-brown milk mushroom.

Botanical description

The mushroom cap has a dense, fleshy consistency. It can be up to 10 cm in diameter, and its shape is often flat and convex. It has a funnel in the middle. To the touch, such a leaflet is bare and dry. The colors of the cap can be different - they range from red-brown to yellow-brown shades. Often the outer surface of the cap can crack.

The flesh on the cut of the mushroom is white, but in the open air it becomes brown. There is a milky white juice on the cut. It was due to him that such a mushroom was named with the word milk-lover.

If you compare it with other milky mushrooms, you will notice that the milk jug has milky juice. Outdoors, it darkens and turns black. Also, the pulp of the mushroom is very similar to rubber. It may taste like other mushrooms. Milkweed juice is pleasant, sweetish. It does not change despite the age of the fungus.

Bearing plates are similar to the outer surface. The inside of the cap can also match in color.

The stem of the mushroom is often swollen in the middle, and its length can reach 10 cm.

Where does it grow?

If you want to find a milky mushroom, then you can do it like this: it grows in one copy in hard-to-reach places. It can often be found in coniferous or deciduous forests. Good growth is ensured by moss and rotten stumps located close to the growing season.

The pallet is very pleasant to the taste, it belongs to the fourth quality category. They can be eaten salted or boiled. Such mushrooms do not need pre-soaking. But there are also some exceptions. It will be better if you only eat young mushrooms. Adults have a slightly unpleasant odor and taste.

Varieties

The following types of milk lover are distinguished:

Useful properties of the mushroom

The fruiting bodies of the woods contain a large amount of active substances that have a healing property on the human body. Among them, it is worth highlighting volemolid, which is also known as mushroom ergosterol. Also worth noting here are sterols known in mushroom science. They are also found in sea sponges and corals. It is impossible not to mention the presence of sugar alcohol, volemitol.

In folk medicine, milkweed juice is often used. It must be used externally in oncology in order to cure the tumor. Fresh fruiting bodies contain ethanol extract, which demonstrates anti-cancer activity and suppresses the development of sarcoma.

Milkwort tissue contains cortisone, which is why it is often used in antirheumatic and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Milkwort tincture can be used for varicose veins, hemorrhoids, rheumatism and gout. In the presence of these diseases, it should be taken in a teaspoon twice a day. With the same dosage, it will be effective for otitis media, fever, sore throat, bronchitis and runny nose.

To cure a runny nose or flu, you can lubricate the nostrils with this tincture. And in case of diarrhea or food poisoning, it will be useful to eat bread soaked in tincture.

For the treatment of gastritis and stomach ulcers, take 1 teaspoon of milk milk juice 3 times a day.

Contraindications

Euphorbia lamellar mushroom contains a large number of medicinal properties. But, before starting treatment, you should learn more about contraindications. Do not use a mushroom-based tincture for children and pregnant women. Also, nursing mothers should refrain from eating these mushrooms.
Do not forget that the mushroom contains strong active substances, therefore, if you are not sure that your body is ready for this, you should consult a doctor before eating mushrooms.

Preparation

With the right approach to the preparation of the milk jug, such a mushroom will amaze you with its original taste. A specific feature of milkweed is the presence of a fishy odor, which becomes more noticeable with the age of the fungus. During the cooking process, the smell becomes even more pronounced. As for the group of young mushrooms, they have a more pleasant and rich taste.

The mushroom can be pickled, stewed, fried, dried and even salted. Before salting, it is worth soaking the spurge well. This will get rid of bacteria and give the mushrooms a special flavor. It is worth noting that the milk lover is never damaged by the larvae, so more and more mushroom pickers like to use it raw with salt.

If you want to process the mushrooms, cold salting is the best solution. Rinse the red milk milk jug under water and place in a deep container in layers. Each of them must be sprinkled with salt. For 3 kg of mushrooms, 150 grams of salt is needed. After that, put the container in the refrigerator for a month. After this period, you can taste the mushrooms. If they are too salty, they can be diluted with boiled water. They are great for salads and pizzas.

Now you know what the milk lover is and what properties it has. The leaflet will be useful both from a medical point of view and for simple consumption.

Milk lover, Euphorbia, Leaflet

Lactarius volemus

Milk lover

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, in young mushrooms flat-convex, later slightly funnel-shaped, depressed. The color is red-brown, orange-yellow. The skin is bare, dry, often cracks in maturity. The plates are adherent or weakly descending, thin, at first yellowish, later brown, rusty-brown spots appear from touch. The pulp is white, brown in the cut. Milky juice is white, sweetish in taste, turns brown and thickens in the air. The smell of old mushrooms is unpleasant, herring.

Leg. Height up to 12 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, the same color as the cap, lighter in the upper part, cylindrical or slightly swollen.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous and coniferous forests on calcareous soils.

Season. July - October.

Similarity. Confused with some types of milkers of similar color. It is impossible to confuse with poisonous mushrooms because of the abundant milky juice and specific smell.

Use. In the West, it is considered one of the best mushrooms, although, according to the authors, it is quite ordinary. It is consumed fresh, salted, pickled. Only young mushrooms need to be collected.

Medicinal properties. Antibiotic substances were found in the milk lover. In folk medicine, it was used to treat typhus.

Red boletus, Aspen, Redhead, Krasnik, Chelysh

Leccinum aurantiacum

Syn .: Boletus aurantiacus

Boletus red

Hat. The diameter is up to 30 cm, in young mushrooms it is hemispherical, with a bent edge, tightly fits the leg, later it is cushion-shaped, thick-fleshed, the surface is smooth, slightly velvety. Color from orange to reddish-brown, fades with age. The hymenophore is free, the tubules are long, whitish or yellowish-gray. The pulp is dense, white, on the cut it changes color to gray-violet, purple-gray, brown-pink or black. The taste and smell are inexpressive.

Leg. Height up to 20 cm, diameter up to 5 cm, cylindrical or clavate with a thickening towards the base, solid, white, covered with whitish scales, darkening to dark brown with age. The flesh of the leg of young mushrooms is dense, non-fibrous, becomes coarse, fibrous with age. On the cut, it changes color to lilac-pink or black.

Spore powder. Brown.

Habitat. In deciduous and mixed forests with an admixture of aspen.

Season. June - October.

Similarity. It is easy to confuse with other types of boletus: black-scaled boletus (L. atrostipitatum), forming mycorrhiza with birch; with spruce boletus (L. piceinum); with oak boletus (L. quercinum), forming mycorrhiza with oak; with pine boletus (L. vulpinum), with brown boletus (L. testaceoscabrum) growing under the aspens; with white boletus (L. percandidum); with gray boletus (L. duriusculum) growing in poplars. All of these species are edible.

Use. A delicious mushroom that can be used in all kinds. Even the pickled, cut into rings legs of young aspen trees, called brisket, are delicious. Refers to the so-called black mushrooms, because it darkens during processing.

Float gray, Pusher

Amanita vaginata

Float gray

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, bell-shaped at first, later from plano-convex to flat. The color can be very different: gray, gray-brown, orange, white. Sometimes mushrooms with a different color of the cap are distinguished into independent species. Scars are clearly visible along the edges of the cap. The pulp is very brittle, the smell is inexpressive, the taste is pleasant.

Leg. Height up to 15 cm, hollow, without ring. Off-white color. It is located in a wide free volva (vagina), which remains after the rupture of the common veil.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In various forests, sometimes it is found outside the forest, in meadows.

Season. June - October.

Similarity. Very similar to the pale toadstool (Amanita phalloides). At the beginning of growth, the float is almost completely covered with a common blanket, like the grebe, and at this stage it is very dangerous to confuse the species. The main difference is the absence of a ring on the float on the leg and a ribbed edge.

Remember : It is better not to eat multiple floats than to eat one pale toadstool.

Use. Suitable for frying.

Medicinal properties. Contains betaine, which plays an important role in metabolic processes.

Porphyry porphyrosporous, Hericium porphyry, Purple spore boletus, Shokoladnik

Porphyrellus porphyrosporus

Syn .: Porphyrellus pseudoscaber

Boletus porphyrosporus

Porphyry porphyrosporous

Hat. Diameter 4-16 cm, hemispherical, later convex or cushion-shaped, similar to the cap of a boletus. The color is light or dark brown with a reddish tint, sometimes lead-gray. The surface is smooth, velvety, dry, often cracking at the edges. The tubules are long, from gray to dirty brown in color with a pinkish tinge; when pressed, they become bluish-green or black-brown. The pulp is fibrous, yellow-gray, brownish, greenish-olive or purple, turning blue-green in the cut. The smell and taste are unpleasant.

Leg. Height up to 15 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, the same color with the cap, felt at the base, whitish, fibrous, dense, turns blue on the cut.

Spore powder. Red brown.

Habitat. In coniferous and less often deciduous forests, it grows on soil and dry wood, mainly in mountainous areas.

Season. August - October.

Similarity. Inexperienced mushroom pickers can be confused with boletus.

Use. Taste is mediocre, an unpleasant smell persists even after boiling, a bit bitter.

Ramaria yellow, Horny yellow

Ramaria flava

Ramaria yellow

Fruit body. Height 10–20 cm, width 7-15 cm, coral-shaped, smooth branches jagged at the ends extend from the common base. Color from light yellow to sulphurous yellow. The pulp is white or light yellow, the taste is inexpressive, the smell is slightly floury.

Spore powder... White.

Habitat. In deciduous and coniferous forests, prefers moist, mossy places.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. With a beautiful ramaria (R. formosa), in which the flesh becomes rusty when cut, tastes bitter and can cause stomach pains.

Use. Young mushrooms are edible after boiling, they can be fried, pickled.

Ramaria is beautiful

Ramaria formosa

Fruit body. Height 6-30 cm, width 7-15 cm, coral-shaped, smooth branches jagged at the ends extend from the common base. The color is from yellow-red to yellow-ocher, the ends of the branches are yellow. The pulp is white, rusting on the cut, the taste, especially at the ends of the branches, is bitter, the smell is inexpressive.

Spore powder. Ocher.

Habitat. On humus soils in deciduous, rarely in coniferous forests.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. With yellow ramaria (R. flava), whose flesh is white, the taste is not bitter.

Use. Inedible due to the bitter taste that intensifies during cooking.

Horned claw, Horned pistil, Hercules' club

Clavariadelphus pistillaris

Horned clavate

Fruit body. Height up to 25 cm, thickness up to 5 cm, initially cylindrical, later acquires a clavate shape, the surface is at first smooth, later covered with longitudinal folds. The color is light yellow, ocher, reddish-brown, sometimes has a purple tint, brownish-reddish when pressed. The pulp is dense, white, gradually acquires a brownish-reddish color on the cut. The smell is pleasant, the taste is bitter.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous and mixed forests, it grows on soil.

Season. July - September.

Similarity. Looks like a truncated slingshot (C. truncatus), having a brighter color, and on the reed horn (C. ligulus), growing in coniferous forests and having a smaller size.

Use. The mushroom is edible, but there are very bitter specimens, it is better not to touch it.

Crested hornbeam

Clavulina cristata

Crested hornbeam

Fruit body. Height 5–8 cm, coral, branches at the ends are flattened in the form of scallops. The color is white, grayish-white, sometimes pinkish. The flesh is white, the taste is inexpressive, in older specimens it is bitter, the smell is weak.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In coniferous and deciduous forests, sometimes found in meadows and pastures.

Season. From summer to late autumn.

Similarity. With edible gray slingshot (S. cinerea), which has gray or gray-purple fruiting bodies. With some other inedible horned heads of gray and brownish color, which do not branch at the ends and which have a bitter taste.

Use. The mushroom is not poisonous, at a young age it can be used, but the nutritional quality is low.

Horned beetle, Reddish coral, Cockerel coral, Ramaria grape, Ramaria rooster

Ramaria botrytis

Fruit body. Height up to 20 cm, coral, resembling a head of cauliflower or cockscomb, consists of many thick branches emerging from a common base with thinning sharp processes at the ends. The color of the shoots is reddish or wine-red, the bases of the branches are whitish. The pulp is watery, fragile, off-white. The taste is pleasant, the smell is fruity, pleasant.

Leg. Short, thick, tuberous, white or creamy.

Spore powder. Light ocher.

Habitat. In deciduous, less often coniferous forests, in hilly and mountainous terrain, on calcareous soils, it prefers the neighborhood of oaks and birches.

Season. The end of summer is autumn.

Similarity. It is difficult not to recognize this mushroom by its reddish color and specific shape.

Use. The mushroom is tasty, but rare, so it is better to leave it in nature.

Horned gray, Clavulina gray, Coral gray

Clavulina cinerea

Fruit body. Height 2.5-10 cm, coral-shaped, consists of single or densely intergrown branches, weakly branching at the ends, ash-colored or gray. The pulp is white, fragile, without any special taste or smell.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On soil in deciduous forests, grows singly and in groups.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. It looks like amethyst horn (Clavulina amethystina), which is distinguished by its lilac-purple color.

Use. Edible mushroom; according to some sources, it is not consumed in food.

Pine mushroom, pine mushroom

Lactarius deliciosus

Syn .: pinicola

Pine mushroom

Hat. Diameter 3-15 cm, at first rounded-convex, later funnel-shaped, curved edges, later straight. The skin is slippery in wet weather. The color is orange-red, sometimes creamy, with concentric darker orange zones. The plates are adherent, orange-ocher, turn green when damaged. Milky sap is orange-yellow, turns green in the air. The pulp is dense, fleshy, orange, turns green in the air. The taste is insipid with a barely perceptible bitterness, the smell is very pleasant, resinous-fruity.

Leg. Height 2–6 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, inside with white spongy filling, the same color as the cap, turns green when damaged.

Spore powder. Light ocher.

Habitat. In young stands of pine, it can grow under free-standing pines.

Season. From July (very rarely in June) to autumn frosts.

Similarity. There are many varieties of saffron milk cap: (L. deterrimus), having a bluish-greenish cap, an expressionless smell and a bitter taste; red capsicum (L. sanquifluus), having a red-orange hat; salmon mushroom, or alpine (L. semisanquifluus). They are all edible and delicious. Inexperienced mushroom pickers can confuse mushrooms with pink fluff (L. torminosus), having a shaggy cap and white pungent milky juice, and with a load of oak (L. insulsus), having a white milky juice of a pungent taste.

Use. Delicacy mushroom of the first category, the "king" of the milkmen. You can salt (preferably raw), fry, pickle. It is useful to eat raw mushrooms, sprinkling them with salt. Easily digestible unlike most mushrooms.

Medicinal properties. Contains a lot of carotene. The antibiotic lactarioviolin was obtained from camelina, which significantly inhibits the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, in particular, tubercle bacillus. Antirheumatic substances were found in the mushroom. All types have these properties.

Row white

Tricholoma album

Hat. Diameter 5-10 cm, at first convex, later prostrate, with edges wrapped inward, the skin is smooth, dry. The color is white, grayish-buffy in mature specimens. The plates are white, frequent, sinuous. The pulp is white, dense, with an unpleasant smell of musty flour and a bitter taste.

Leg. Height up to 9 cm, cylindrical, sometimes curved, smooth, fibrous, of the same color as the cap.

Spore powder... White.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, it usually grows singly or in small groups.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. Can be confused with a row of violet (Lepista irina), but it has a pleasant floral scent.

Use. According to some reports, the mushroom is poisonous. In any case, the bitter taste and unpleasant odor do not allow using it for food.

Row two-color, two-color

Note: The mushroom was not found in any of the reference books known to the authors, therefore the name was chosen in accordance with the one used in the Stavropol Territory, although, strictly speaking, the rowing is two-color - one of the names of the rowing lilac-legged, a close relative of which is probably the two-flower.

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, at first hemispherical, later cushion or convex, sometimes flat to maturity, with upward curved edges. In dry weather, it is often radially ruptured. The color is clay-yellow with lilac spots, sometimes in young mushrooms it is almost completely lilac. The plates are adherent with a tooth, frequent, lilac, brownish-lilac by old age. The pulp is dense, the taste is sweetish, the smell is somewhat unpleasant, reminiscent of the smell of musty flour.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, dense, fibrous, covered with flaky scales. The color is yellowish brown.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, shrubs, forest shelter belts.

Season. May June.

Similarity. Looks like a lilac-footed ryadovka (L. saeva), some mushroom pickers call the two-flowered summer blue root. It has no similarity with poisonous species.

Use. The mushroom is edible, although less delicious than the blue root. You can fry and marinate after pre-boiling (pour the broth).

Row yellow-red, Openok red

Tricholomopsis rutilans

Hat. Diameter 5-15 cm, initially convex, later flat, with a tubercle. The skin is velvety. The color of the main background is yellow, covering the scales are purple, depending on their density, the color of the cap can be lighter or darker. Sometimes it is yellow, sometimes it is purple-red. The plates are adherent, thin, yellow-green. The pulp is yellowish, the taste is bitter, the smell is unpleasant, musty.

Leg. Height 6-10 cm, diameter up to 1.5 cm, cylindrical, fibrous, felt, at the top covered with purple scales.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On stumps and dead coniferous wood. Grows in groups.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. With a related and also edible ryadovka decorated (T. decora), which has a cap with yellow scales.

Use. There are different opinions about the edibility of this mushroom. It is not poisonous, but of low quality, it is better not to collect it.

Row earthy-gray, Row earthen, Row ground

Tricholoma terreum

Row earthy gray

Hat. Diameter up to 8 cm, bell-shaped at first, later prostrate, wavy, with a tubercle, the edges are often cracked. The color is light or dark gray, darker in the center, the skin is covered with dark gray scales. The plates adhered to the pedicle are whitish at first, then become gray. The pulp is very fragile, with a mild taste and smell.

Leg. Height up to 8 cm, diameter up to 1 cm, hollow, fibrous, with a mealy bloom at the top, very fragile.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In conifers, less often in deciduous forests.

Season. May - December.

Similarity. Very similar to the gray ryadovka (T. portentosum), a good mushroom growing in the same places, but distinguished by its larger size and even dark gray color; on poisonous tiger row (T. pardinum) and a pointed row (T. groanense), but in the first, the fruit body is larger, the plates are yellowish or greenish, and in the second in the center of the cap there is a very high sharp tubercle. Looks like an edible scaly ryadovka (T. scalpturatum), the surface of which is covered with silvery-gray scales, and by old age the skin and plates are covered with yellow spots.

Use. The mushroom can be fried, pickled, dried.

Row red-brown

Tricholoma ustale

Row red-brown

Hat. Diameter 4–8 cm, convex at first, later straightens, mucous in wet weather. The color is chestnut brown, slightly lighter towards the edge. The plates are white, then rusty, darken with age. The pulp is white, reddish-brownish on the cut. The smell is inexpressive, the taste is moderately bitter.

Leg. Height up to 8 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, slightly swollen, fibrous, reddish-brown, pale yellow under the cap.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, especially under beeches.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. Very similar to the orange ryadovka (Tricholoma aurantum), which is inedible and almost always grows near spruces, and on an edible white-brown row (T. albobrunneum), growing under the pines.

Use. Poisonous, and according to some sources, inedible.

Row lilac-legged, Row disguised, Row two-color, Blue root, Blue leg

Lepista saeva

Syn .: Tricholoma personata

Rhodopaxillus saevus

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, sometimes more, in young mushrooms hemispherical, later convex, flat, smooth, naked at maturity. The color can be grayish, cream, white, light ocher, sometimes with a purple tint. The plates are whitish, then cream or ocher, frequent, adherent with a tooth. The pulp is firm, the taste and smell are pleasant.

Leg. Height 3-10 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, longitudinal fibrous. The color is partially or completely purple, more intense or paler.

Spore powder. Pale pink.

Habitat. On pastures, compost heaps, on the edges and outskirts of deciduous forests, in forest belts.

Season. Fruiting in March - May, and then in the same places in October - November, and in the absence of severe frosts in December.

Similarity. Looks like a purple ryadovka (Lepista nuda), which some mushroom pickers also call blue root. Another type of bicolor rowing is found in the Stavropol Territory in May - June, it is called by local mushroom pickers bicolor ( cm... The row is two-color, two-color).

Use. A delicious mushroom that can be used for all types of processing. Good as a side dish for meat dishes.

Soap row

Tricholoma saponaceum

Soap row

Hat. Diameter 5-10 cm, initially convex, later flat, with a wavy, uneven edge, often with cracks along the edges. Various colors: greenish, yellowish, brown in different tones, white with a red tint. The skin is smooth, shiny, lightening at the edges. The blades are rather rare, notched, white, greenish, pinkish, often with rusty spots. The pulp is white, dense, slightly reddens when damaged, the taste is sweetish, and sometimes bitter. A characteristic feature is a strong soapy smell.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter 1.5–3 cm, different shapes: cylindrical, swollen, long or short, slender or curved, often fusiform, rooted. The color is the same as that of the cap, but paler, white at the top. The surface is scaly-fibrous, but it can be completely smooth.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In forests of different types, more often in conifers. Prefers acidic soils.

Season. August - October.

Similarity. In appearance, the mushroom can be confused with many rows. But the indisputable distinguishing features are a strong soapy smell and the pulp that turns red when damaged.

Use. Inedible due to unpleasant taste and odor, although it is not poisonous.

Separate row

Tricholoma sejunctum

Separate row

Hat. The diameter is up to 12 cm, at first it is bell-shaped, later it becomes more and more flat, with a tubercle, sometimes the edges are bent upwards. The edges of mature mushrooms are wavy, often cracking radially. The color is greenish-yellow, brown, darker in the center. The skin is dry, slightly slimy in wet weather, covered with brownish or olive-brown radial fibers. The plates are rare, white, sometimes with a yellowish tinge. The pulp is dense, the smell is flour, the taste is bitter.

Leg. Height up to 8 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, often curved, hard, white with yellow spots, covered with scales.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous, less often in coniferous forests. Prefers calcareous soils.

Season. July - October.

Similarity. The color of the mushroom is very similar to the deadly poisonous pale toadstool. (Amanita phalloides), which is distinguished by the presence of a ring and a volva.

Use. Due to its bitter taste, it is inedible, according to some sources, it is suitable after boiling. For experienced mushroom pickers, it is not of interest, since you can always find better quality mushrooms. And the inexperienced should beware: it is better to take a separate ryadovka for a pale toadstool and not take it, than vice versa.

Row gray

Tricholoma portentosum

Hat. Diameter 7-14 cm, at first bell-shaped or convex, later gradually straightens, in the center there is a wide tubercle. The edges are bent, straighten and crack over time. The skin is dry, sticky in wet weather, gray, with blackish fibers, sometimes with an olive or purple tint. The plates are adherent with a tooth, not very frequent, at first white, later grayish or yellowish. The pulp is white, yellowish, friable, the taste is expressionless, the smell of flour or is absent.

Leg. Height 6-12 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, with a mealy bloom under the cap, white, can be yellowish or olive.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In coniferous forests, prefers pines.

Season. Autumn, grows to hard frost.

Similarity. With a row of earthy gray (Tricholoma terreum), growing in the same places, but having a dry cap, non-yellowing plates and legs, and smaller sizes.

Use. An edible mushroom that can be fried and pickled.

Row sulfur-yellow, Row sulphurous

Tricholoma sulphureum

Hat... Diameter 3–8 cm, first conical, later flat-convex, with tubercle, smooth, silky. The color is sulphurous yellow, the center is brownish. The plates are rare, high, sulfur-yellow. The pulp is fibrous, yellow. The taste is inexpressive, the smell is unpleasant, reminiscent of the smell of acetylene.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 1 cm, widening towards the base, slightly curved, furrowed, initially full, later hollow. The color is gray or brownish yellow.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In forests of different types, more often in hilly and mountainous areas.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. Very similar to edible green tea (Tricholoma flavovirens), growing in the same places and having more frequent plates and a pleasant flour smell.

Use. The mushroom is inedible due to its unpleasant odor, and possibly mildly poisonous.

Row glaucous, Row dove

Tricholoma columbetta

Hat. Diameter up to 10 cm, at first bell-shaped, later convex or flat, with a tubercle, silky, with a wavy surface and edges curved inward. The color is white, occasionally with bluish or pinkish heels. The plates are snow-white, frequent. The pulp is thick, fibrous, white. The taste is sweetish, the smell is weak, floury.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, flat or tapering downward, fibrous, white, bluish-greenish below.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous or mixed forests, in pastures, it grows singly or in small groups.

Season. July - September.

Similarity. May be confused with other white rows. It is dangerous to scare with a poisonous whitish talker (Clitocybe dealbata), in which the plates are descending, creamy and smaller.

Use. A good mushroom, you can pickle, salt, fry.

Weed row, Titmouse

Lepista sordida

Syn .: Tricholoma sordidum

Hat. Diameter up to 10 cm, initially convex, later prostrate, in the center with a tubercle, sometimes irregularly wavy, purple with a brownish tint or purple, fading. The plates are adherent with a tooth, frequent, brown-violet. The pulp is watery, with a pleasant smell and taste.

Leg. Height 3–6 cm, diameter up to 1 cm, cylindrical, slightly expanding towards the base, dense at first, later hollow, fibrous. The color is the same as the hat.

Spore powder. Grayish purple.

Habitat. In meadows, pastures, forests, forest shelter belts, orchards, orchards.

Season. May - October.

Similarity. Very similar to purple ryadovka (L. nuda), although less fleshy, more fragile. Confusion with the rest of the mushrooms is excluded, since the purple color is a good distinguishing feature.

Use. You can fry and marinate after boiling.

Row fused

Lyophyllum connatum

Hat. Diameter up to 6 cm, initially convex, later flat, depressed in the middle, with a lowered wavy edge. The color is beige, with a darker tint around the edge. The plates are adherent with a tooth, frequent, narrow, white or yellowish. The pulp is white, elastic, yellowish-brown by old age. The smell of flour.

Leg. Height 4–8 cm, diameter 0.3–0.8 cm, white, cylindrical, dense, later hollow.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In forests, parks, grassy meadows.

Season. From September until frost.

Similarity. Looks like crowded lyophillum (L. aggregatum), also edible, but its cap color varies from gray to brown. Bears resemblance to some poisonous white talkers, such as the waxy talker (Clitocybe cerussata) and whitish talker (C. dealbata). The waxy talker has a waxy hat covered with watery concentric circles; the talker has a whitish hat with a tubercle. These species are found in mixed and coniferous forests, but sometimes in pastures. They do not grow together with the bases of the legs. If you are not a very experienced mushroom picker, it is better to avoid collecting small white talkers.

Use. You can fry, pickle, salt after the obligatory boiling.

Poplar row, Sandstone

Tricholoma populinum

Hat. Diameter 5-15 cm, initially convex, later convex, sometimes depressed in old age, fissured, with wavy edges. The color is grayish brown, reddish brown, nutty. The plates are frequent, whitish at first, acquire a reddish-brown hue by maturity, become covered with rusty spots. The pulp is thick, dense, the smell can be described as flour, cucumber or watermelon. Bitter taste.

Leg. Height 5-10 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, fibrous, dry, brownish, whitish under the cap.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In poplar and aspen forests and plantations.

Season. October November.

Similarity. The fungus is easily recognized by its strong smell and affection for poplar trees.

Use. The mushroom is edible, but the bitter taste and fibrous flesh make it low in nutritional quality. You can fry and marinate, having previously boiled it several times to remove the bitterness.

Truncated row

Tricholoma truncatum

Clitopilus truncatus

Rhodopaxillus truncatus

Tricholoma geminum

Hat. Diameter 8-12 cm, initially convex, later semi-spread, often with wavy, irregular edges, dense, fleshy, smooth. The color is pinkish brown. The plates are wide, pinkish-brown. The pulp is firm. The taste is sweetish, the smell is very pleasant, which can be defined as violet or fruity.

Leg. Height up to 3.5 cm, diameter up to 2.8 cm, dense, fibrous, pinkish-brown.

Spore powder. Pinkish brown.

Habitat. In deciduous forests.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. The mushroom looks like a row of violet (L. irina), which has the same smell and nutritional quality.

Use. It is an edible mushroom suitable for fresh and pickled consumption.

Violet row

Lepista irina

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, at first spherical, later bell-shaped, prostrate by maturity, with wavy edges. The skin is smooth and dry. The color is white with a pinkish tinge, reddish-brown to maturity. The plates are frequent, at first whitish, later pinkish, to the maturity of the color of cinnamon. The pulp is dense, sweetish, the smell is very strong, floral.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, dense, fibrous, thickened towards the base.

Spore powder. Pink.

Habitat. In coniferous and deciduous forests, on grassy edges.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. Very similar to a truncated row (Tricholoma truncatum), which has the same scent, pink-brown color, but a shorter stem.

Use. This mushroom can be fried and pickled.

Row purple, Lepista naked, Titmouse, Sinyavka

Lepista nuda

Hat. The diameter is up to 15 cm, in young specimens it is cushion-shaped, later flat, naked (hence the name - glabrous leafy), at first bright purple, later brown-ocher, fading. The plates are initially bright purple, with time brownish-ocher, reddish-brown, adherent or loose. The taste is pleasant, the smell is strong, specific.

Leg. Diameter up to 2 cm, height up to 10 cm, expanding towards the base, fibrous, under the cap with a flaky bloom. The color is purple, later fading.

Spore powder. Whitish pink.

Habitat. In forests of various types on humus-rich soil, sometimes in landfills and in silo pits.

Season. Appears in September - October, bears fruit until frost. One of the most cold hardy late autumn species. Occasionally found in spring.

Similarity. Often confused with purple cobwebs, from which it differs in the absence of a cobweb blanket and a strong aroma. Some mushroom pickers consider it a type of lilac-footed row. (L. saeva) and is also called blue root. Very similar to a weed row (L. sardida), which has gray-purple fruits of smaller size and finer flesh, found in the forest, on compost heaps, pastures. It is an edible, although less delicious mushroom.

Use. A very tasty mushroom used for pickling, frying, for side dishes. In its raw form, it is poisonous, contains hemolysin, which destroys red blood cells, therefore, before cooking, the mushrooms must be boiled for 10-15 minutes, the broth must be poured.

Tiled sarcodon

Hat. Diameter 8-25 cm, initially convex, later flat, with a deep depression in the center, with curved wavy edges. The surface is covered with large tiled scales arranged in concentric circles. The color is dark brown with a whitish bloom. On the lower surface, there are fragile frequent spines, easily detached from the cap and descending along the stem. The pulp is dense, tough, bitter, the smell in young specimens is weak, in mature specimens it becomes strong and sharp.

Leg. Height up to 8 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, central or eccentric, dense, smooth, gray-brown.

Spore powder. Red brown.

Habitat. In coniferous forests.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. It looks like a bitter sarcodone rough (S. scabrosum), in which the scales are smaller, appressed, the stem is blackish. According to some sources, it is edible, according to others - not.

Use. Only young specimens are suitable for food; after boiling, the bitterness disappears. Can be used as a side dish. The mushroom is suitable for drying.

Sarcoscifa bright red, Petsitsa bright red, Grandma's ears

Sarcoscipha coccinea

Sarcoscifa bright red

Fruit body. It has the shape of a cup with wavy concave edges, often torn, up to 6 cm in diameter. The inner surface is cinnabar-red, smooth, shiny, the outer surface is velvety, covered with fine dense hairs.

Leg. Very short, hard, immersed in the substrate.

Spore powder... Whitish.

Habitat. On valezhe, woody debris immersed in the soil.

Season. February - April.

Similarity. Looks like orange pecitsa, or aleuria (Peziza aurantia), which is found in grassy places in summer and autumn and is quite edible.

Use. The mushroom is edible, but has no nutritional value due to its tough consistency.

Medicinal properties. Dried and powdered, the mushroom can be used as a styptic.

Satanic mushroom

Boletus satanas

Satanic mushroom

Hat. Diameter up to 25 cm, at first hemispherical, later cushion, at maturity to flat with an unevenly wavy edge. The skin is smooth or slightly velvety, dry. The color is dirty gray, olive gray. The tubules are initially yellowish-greenish, then carmine-red, and turn blue when pressed. The pulp is dense, whitish, slightly reddened in the cut, then slowly turns blue. The taste is nutty, the smell is sour, unpleasant in mature mushrooms.

Leg. Height 4-10 cm, diameter 5-9 cm, tuberous, turnip. In the upper part it is yellow, at the bottom of the same color with the tubes it is covered with a mesh pattern.

Spore powder. Olive.

Habitat. In deciduous forests on calcareous soils, it forms mycorrhiza with oak, beech, hornbeam, linden, hazel and chestnut.

Season. July - September.

Similarity. Can be confused with edible olive-brown oak trees (B. luridus) and speckled (B. erythropus), but their caps are darker and the flesh turns blue intensely on the cut. In the same places, a deep-rooted pain grows (B. radicans), but it has a yellow stem and tubes, and the taste is bitter, which makes the mushroom inedible. Can be confused with the very similar purple pain (B. purpureus), in which the cap is reddish or pinkish-brown, and the flesh instantly turns dark blue. A satanic mushroom looks like a rose-golden or pink-skinned one (B. rhodoxanthus), in which the cap is yellow-brown with a red or pink tint, the leg is yellow with a red mesh, the flesh turns blue. In raw form, the last two species are very poisonous.

Use. Previously considered deadly poisonous, hence its name. Further research has established that it is only poisonous when raw or insufficiently cooked. In addition, you need to remember that edible oak trees are poisonous in their raw form, therefore, if you nevertheless collected these mushrooms, you need to boil them for 15 minutes, and pour out the broth.

The pig is fat

Paxillus atrotomentosus

Hat. Diameter 8-20 cm, large, fleshy, often eccentric, with a curved edge. The skin is velvety, rusty brown or olive brown. Descending, yellow-rusty plates. The pulp is dense, yellow-brown, darkens on the cut, the taste is bitter.

Leg. Height 1–6 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, tapering towards the base, solid, with dense tomentose-velvety pubescence.

Spore powder. Yellow brown.

Habitat. On the stumps and roots of conifers.

Season. July - October.

Similarity. It differs well from all mushrooms in black-brown pubescence on the leg.

Use. In extreme cases, it is edible after long boiling, but the mushroom is of very low quality.

Thin pig, Dunki

Paxillus involutus

The pig is thin

Hat. Diameter 4-12 cm, initially convex, later flat with a depression in the center, velvety, especially at the edges, which are bent in young mushrooms. The color is rusty-brown, yellowish-olive-brown, reddish-brown. The plates are short, descending, yellowish or buffy, reddish-brown when pressed. The pulp is yellowish, brownish if damaged. Sour taste, slightly sour or fruity odor.

Leg. Height 2–6 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, conical or cylindrical, tapering downwards, of the same color with the cap.

Spore powder. Brown.

Habitat. In forests of various types, in bushes, on rotting wood, on forest edges, in gardens, in summer cottages.

Season. From June to frost.

Similarity. It is a little similar to some lactarius, which have a similar shape and color, but differs from them in the absence of milky juice.

Use. In old reference books it is characterized as an edible mushroom; Only after several cases of fatal poisoning in Europe, scientists discovered agglutinins in pigs, which have the ability to accumulate in the body. With repeated use, they begin to destroy red blood cells ( see chap... Mushroom poisoning). Knowing that mushroom pickers are actively collecting pigs, we draw attention to the mortal danger that can lie in wait for them or their loved ones completely unexpectedly.

Serushka, Gray nest, Beard, Plantain

Lactarius flexuosus

Serushka

Hat. Diameter 5-10 cm, initially convex, later funnel-shaped, often with a wavy lobed edge, smooth, leaden, grayish-brown, gray-violet with concentric darker zones. Descending, sparse, thick, yellowish-creamy plates. The pulp is dense, white. Milky juice is watery-white, very pungent, does not change in air. The smell is fruity, spicy.

Leg. Height up to 6 cm, thickness up to 2 cm, cylindrical, sometimes eccentric, narrowed towards the base, swollen, dense at first, later hollow. Light gray color.

Spore powder. Light yellow.

Habitat. In deciduous and mixed forests, usually with birch or aspen, singly and in small groups.

Season. July - October.

Similarity. Similar to the zoneless milkman (L. azonites), which has a gray cap without zones and becomes coral-colored flesh when damaged.

Use. Can be salted after boiling or soaking.

Violinist, Skripun

Lactarius vellereus

Syn .: Agaricus vellereus

Violinist

Hat. Diameter 8-25 cm, sometimes up to 30 cm, first convex, later funnel-shaped. The edges of young mushrooms are bent, then open, wavy. The skin is covered with fine villi, felt, white or creamy white, without zones. The plates are relatively sparse, interspersed with plates, descending, at first white, later pale yellow with buffy spots. The pulp is dense, whitish, with a bitter white milky juice. When dried, the juice becomes reddish, the pulp becomes yellowish if damaged. The smell is pleasant.

Leg. Height 5–8 cm, diameter 2–5 cm, cylindrical, felt surface, of the same color with the cap, secretes milky juice when cut.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous, less often in coniferous forests.

Season. From July to autumn.

Similarity. With a load of pepper (L. piperatus) and load with parchment (L. perganenus), from which it differs with a felt hat.

Use. The mushroom is of rather poor quality, suitable for hot pickling.

Slimy Mushroom, Witch Oil, Putrid Fuligo

Fuligo septica

Slimy mushroom

Fruit body. It is a sponge-like clot of cells, porous, yellow. This community is mobile, it can change its shape. Due to dehydration in air, it becomes covered with a hard crust, spores mature inside.

Spore powder. Brownish.

Habitat. In forests, on mossy trunks, valezhe, on soil, litter.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. Doesn't have.

Use. Inedible.

Morel cap

Verpa bohemica

Hat. Diameter up to 3 cm, brownish, yellow-brown, brownish, wrinkled surface. Put on a leg in the form of a thimble or cap, the edges are not connected to the leg. The pulp is waxy, tender, without much taste. The smell is weak, somewhat unpleasant.

Leg. Height up to 15 cm, cylindrical, white or yellowish, cotton-like inside, outside covered with pityriasis scales.

Spore powder. Yellowish.

Habitat. On calcareous soils in deciduous forests, in clearings, forest edges, in bushes.

Season. One of the first spring mushrooms.

Similarity. The mushroom is very similar to a conical cap (V. conica), which is found in the same places and at the same time, however, it is a rarer mushroom, although edible after boiling, but less tasty. Can be confused with another variety - a hybrid hat (Mitrophora semilibera), which appears a little later, but is also edible.

Use. A delicious mushroom that can be fried, marinated, stewed. Its value lies in the fact that it appears in early spring and contains many biologically active substances. It is better to boil it before use.

Edible morel, real morel

Morchella esculenta

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, ovoid or truncated-conical, the surface is sinuous-cellular, similar in shape to crumpled honeycombs, hollow inside. The edges are fused with the leg. The color is yellow-brown, light brown, gray-ocher. The taste is pleasant, the smell is expressionless.

Leg. Height 5-20 cm, diameter 1-6 cm, cylindrical, widened towards the base, longitudinally wrinkled, slightly velvety to the touch, flaky.

Spore powder. Light ocher, cream.

Habitat. Most often in light deciduous forests, in mixed and less often in conifers, on grassy glades, in bushes, gardens.

Season. Mid April - end of May.

Similarity. Very similar to the morel (M. vulgaris), in which the cap is darker, gray-brown tones; round morel (M. rotunda), characterized by a round yellow cap; conical morel (M. conica), the hollow head of which has an elongated-conical shape.

Morel common

Use. All morels are edible and delicious. It is not for nothing that Morel Day exists in the USA. Used for drying, frying. Stuffed morels are a delicacy. Boil the mushrooms before eating, as some mushroom pickers confuse them with lines containing gyromitrin. In the Western literature, there is information about the presence of toxic substances in raw morels.

Curly Sparassis, Mushroom Cabbage, Mushroom Sheep, Mushroom Happiness

Sparassis crispa

Curly sparassis

Fruit body. Diameter up to 35 cm, consists of many wavy branched plates, cream or ocher-brown. The pulp is white, fibrous, resinous smell, nutty taste.

Leg. Short, thick, brown, deep in the ground.

Spore powder. Yellowish.

Habitat. In coniferous forests, mainly around pine trees.

Season. Aug. Sept.

Similarity. Almost impossible to confuse.

Use. Only young specimens are suitable for food, since in old age the mushroom becomes very tough. Due to its rarity, it is better not to pick this mushroom.

Medicinal properties. The mushroom contains two rare substances: sparassol and betaglucan. Betaglucan has an anti-tumor effect. Sparassol prevents the development of molds. You can add it to a container where mushrooms are salted, after washing, - there will be less problems with mold. Experiments are underway to introduce the fungus into culture, and the study of its properties continues.

Stropharia blue-green

Stropharia aeruginosa

Stropharia blue-green

Hat. Diameter 4–8 cm, at first ovoid, later broadly bell-shaped, spread out over time, smooth, sticky, with remnants of a veil along the edges in the form of white flakes. The color is bluish-greenish, with yellowish spots in the center. Plates are frequent, adherent, at first gray-violet, later violet-brown. The pulp is bluish-whitish, later yellow, the taste and smell are unpleasant.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, sometimes curved, naked, slimy, of the same color with the cap. There is a film ring on the leg, below which the leg is covered with white flakes.

Spore powder. Brown.

Habitat. In the forest, in meadows, pastures, grassy glades, on stumps, on organic debris.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. The color is very characteristic, almost impossible to confuse.

Use. In various sources, the mushroom is defined as edible, inedible, slightly poisonous and even hallucinogenic. The authors used the mushroom for food without harmful effects. It must be remembered that before use, the mushroom must be boiled, the broth must be poured.

The line is giant

Gyromitra gigas

The line is giant

Hat. Diameter 30 cm, irregular in shape, with wavy folds, resembles a peeled walnut or brain. The color is light or ocher-brown, brownish. The pulp is grayish, without a special taste, with a damp smell.

Leg. Height 2–6 cm, wide, hollow, wrinkled, off-white at the bottom.

Spore powder. White or light ocher.

Habitat. In mixed and deciduous forests on humus soil.

Season. April May.

Similarity. Very similar to an ordinary line (G. esculenta), which often grows in coniferous forests on sandy soil, along forest roads and forest edges, in places of former fires and has a darker cap color and smaller sizes.

Use. The information about the edibility of the lines is very contradictory. In Russian literature, especially in old editions, they are designated as conditionally edible. In contrast to them, Western literature presents them (especially the ordinary line) as deadly poisonous. The lines contain poisons such as gyromitrin and methylhydrazine. There are especially many of them in overripe mushrooms. They are destroyed by prolonged boiling or drying. According to the latest data, the susceptibility to these poisons, as well as to pig toxins, is individual. In addition, they have a cumulative effect, that is, they accumulate in the body. Therefore, the lines should be used after appropriate heat treatment, in small quantities; they should not be given to children and weakened people. It may be better to refuse to eat them altogether. In fairness, it must be said that line poisoning occurs mainly in Western countries. Perhaps this is somehow connected with the soil and climatic conditions of growth. In Russia, they have always loved lines and morels. We advise gourmets to use morels, which are harmless and have the highest taste.

Brown russula

Russula xerampelina

Hat. Diameter 5-12 cm, at first convex, later flat, at first sticky, later dry, matte. The color is very variable: purple-red, olive-brown, partly red with brownish-greenish, yellow-brownish with greenish, from brownish to blackish-brown. The peel is removed by a quarter of the diameter. The plates are adherent, yellowish, brown with age. The pulp is white, yellow-brown in places of break, not spicy, nutty taste, herring smell (especially in old mushrooms).

Leg. Height 3-10 cm, diameter 1.5-3 cm, cylindrical, smooth, cotton-like, white or pinkish; when pressed, brown spots form on the surface.

Spore powder. Light ocher.

Habitat. In deciduous and mixed forests, especially near oak and beech.

Season. July - October.

Similarity. The herring scent is a good distinguishing feature.

Use. Delicious russula that can be fried, pickled, and salted.

Russula yellow-red, Russula golden-red, Russula golden

Russula aurata

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, first convex, later prostrate, orange-red, orange-yellow, red with yellow spots, sometimes red-violet with a yellow tint. The peel is removed to the middle of the cap. The plates are adherent, ocher or cream, with golden edges. The pulp is white, yellowish under the skin, the smell is weak, the taste is sweetish.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, yellow, cotton-like.

Spore powder. Yellow.

Habitat.

Season. June - October.

Similarity. Can be confused with other red russules, but yellow plates are a distinguishing feature. Looks like a very rare edible Caesar's amanita (Amanita caesarea), which has a red cap and yellow plates, but the fly agaric has a ring and a volva on its leg.

Use. You can fry, pickle, salt.

Russula bilious

Russula fellea

Hat. Diameter 5–9 cm, at first hemispherical, later flat with a depression in the center. The surface is smooth, shiny, straw yellow, ocher, honey brown, the color is paler at the edges. The skin is removed only from the edge. The plates are thin, adherent, white, then whitish-brown. The pulp is fragile, first white, then yellowish, mustard smell, burning taste.

Leg. Height 4–6 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, full at first, later with spongy filling.

Spore powder. Light cream.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, he prefers oak and beech.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. With other russules of yellow color, among which there are no poisonous ones.

Use. Like all russula with a pungent taste, it can only be salted. To determine the taste, it is enough to run your tongue under the bonnet.

Russula greenish

Russula virescens

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, at first spherical, later convex and finally flat-depressed. The surface is whitish, densely covered with light green, herbal, vitriol or olive green warts, separated by deep cracks, the edges are lighter. Sometimes the cap is white, but always cracked. The peel is removed to the middle. The plates are frequent, creamy white, sometimes covered with brown spots. The pulp is very dense, white, sweetish, the smell is pleasant.

Leg. Height 2–9 cm, diameter up to 4 cm, cylindrical, dense, at maturity with cotton-like filling, white.

Spore powder. Creamy white.

Habitat. In deciduous, less often coniferous forests, it prefers mycorrhiza with beeches, oaks and birches.

Season. From July to autumn.

Similarity. With a related russula green (R. aeruginea), growing in the same places, having a smooth head and a slightly pungent taste. The main problem is that inexperienced or inattentive mushroom pickers mistake the deadly poisonous toadstool for green russula species. (Amanita phalloides), although there are many differences between them: russules do not have a ring on the leg and vagina, the leg is not thickened in the form of a tuber. Therefore, when collecting, you should not rush, but you need to carefully consider the found mushroom, without cutting it off until you are fully confident in the correctness of the definition.

Use. This is one of the best russula you can cook any way you want.

Russula beautiful

Russula lepida

Hat. Diameter 4-12 cm, at first hemispherical, later straightened, with bent edges, in mature mushrooms they are straightened, often cracking. The skin is dry, velvety, hardly peels off. The color is bright red, dark pink, often there are depigmented white or yellowish areas on the skin. The plates are frequent, poorly adhered to the stem, light cream. The pulp is dense, firm, but brittle. Bitter taste, fruity smell.

Leg. Height 3–7 cm, diameter up to 3.5 cm, often slightly swollen, white or pink, very hard.

Spore powder. Light cream.

Habitat. In deciduous, rarely coniferous forests, especially under beeches.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. It can easily be confused with red russula, which is not dangerous, although in Western literature some burning russula are indicated as poisonous, but after boiling they are suitable for salting.

Use. The mushroom is of poor quality, but good for use after boiling.

Mayr's russula

Russula mairei

Mayr's russula

Hat. Diameter 3–9 cm, convex at first, later depressed, red or pink, sometimes almost completely white. The skin is removed by one third. The plates are rather rare, adherent, fragile, white with a bluish tinge, later cream. The pulp is dense, the taste is bitter, the smell resembles a coconut.

Leg. Height up to 5 cm, cylindrical or clavate, white, solid.

Spore powder. Whitish.

Habitat. In deciduous forests under beeches.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. With other russula red.

Use. Due to its bitter taste, it is suitable only for pickling after boiling. Sometimes in Western literature it is interpreted as weakly poisonous.

Food russula

Russula vesca

Hat. Diameter 5-12 cm, at first hemispherical, later convex, prostrate at maturity, depressed in the center. The skin is bare, sticky in damp weather, often lagging at the edges, can be easily removed. The color is dominated by red, with a lilac, brownish, greenish tint. The plates are frequent, white, sometimes yellowish, protruding from under the cap. The pulp is dense, nutty taste, weak smell.

Leg. Height 4–8 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, with a wrinkled surface, often narrowed towards the base.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In different types of forests.

Season. July - October.

Similarity. With other russula, which is not dangerous. Differs in plates protruding from under the cap.

Use. Delicious russula that can be boiled, fried, pickled, salted.

Russula pink

Russula rosea

Hat. Diameter 4–9 cm, initially convex, later flat or slightly concave-prostrate, with an even edge. The skin is red or pink in color, fading to pink-white, usually yellowish-cream in the center, slightly ribbed along the edge, peeled off almost to the middle. The plates are frequent, pale cream-colored. The pulp is white, the taste is bitter.

Leg. Height 4–7 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, solid or hollow, white, sometimes with a pink tint.

Spore powder. Cream.

Habitat. In deciduous and pine forests.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. With other russules of a similar color.

Use. It is consumed salty.

Russula blue-yellow, Russula blue-green

Russula cyanoxantha

Russula blue-yellow

Hat. Diameter 4-15 cm, spherical at first, later flat with a depressed center. The skin is smooth, shiny, peeled off to the middle. The color is very changeable. It can be violet, wine, green, wine-purple, yellowish, olive, the color is unevenly spotted, but the predominant tones are green and purple. The plates are adherent to the pedicle, frequent, white. An important sign: only in this russula, the plates are not brittle, but sticky, crumpled when pressed.

Leg. Height 3–8 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, dense, at first solid, later cotton-like and finally hollow. The color is white, sometimes with a lilac sheen, can be covered with rusty specks.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous, less often coniferous forests.

Season. From early summer (less often from May) to late autumn.

Similarity. With other russula, but different from all sticky plates.

Use. One of the most delicious russula that can be fried, boiled, pickled, salted, dried. It is better to blanch before marinating so that the cap does not crumble.

Sororia russula

Russula sororia

Syn .: Russula amoenolens

Sororia russula

Hat. Diameter 3–6 cm, initially convex, later prostrate, with a depression in the center, ribbed along the edge, mucous in damp weather. The color is brown or gray-brown. The peel is removed to the middle. The plates are white. The pulp is thin, fragile. The taste is at first buttery, then very spicy, the smell is unpleasant, reminiscent of the smell of spoiled cheese.

Leg. Height up to 6 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, with spongy filling, fragile. The color is whitish.

Spore powder. Light beige.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, mainly under oak.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. A bit like Valui (R. foetens), the mushroom is fleshy and has a light brown or ocher cap.

Use. Once cooked, it can be used in a mixture with other mushrooms for pickling or pickling, although the smell and taste make this mushroom inferior.

Trameta butterfly-shaped, Coriolus multicolor

Trametes versicolor

Syn .: Coriolus versicolor

Butterfly trameta

Fruit body. Thin, elastic, leathery, usually consisting of fan-shaped plates, often resembling the shape of butterflies. The surface is covered with many concentric stripes of various colors: black, yellow, brown, bluish and greenish-brown, ocher. Smooth and shiny areas are interspersed with velvety matte. The hats are very variegated and variable in color. Smell and taste are absent. The tubes are short, the pores are round, small, white, and subsequently yellowish.

Spore powder. Cream to pale ocher.

Habitat. On dead deciduous wood, rarely on conifers, on fallen trees, in felling areas. Intensively destroys wood.

Season. All year round.

Similarity. Looks like a zoned tram (T. zonata), which is initially whitish-yellowish, hairy, eventually becomes zoned and smooth.

Use. The mushroom is inedible.

Medicinal properties. Preparations containing antineoplastic substances that increase immunity were obtained from the mushroom.

Trigaster black-headed

Trichaster melanocephalus

Trigaster black-headed

Fruit body. Diameter 5–7 cm, young specimens are spherical or in the form of a bulb, with a sharp nose up to 2 cm long (pictured). The color is whitish, brown in different shades. Exoperidium (outer shell) grows together with endoperidium (inner shell), when ripe it breaks in the form of 4-6 (rarely 7-8) lobes in the shape of a star. The blades are spread out on the surface of the soil; when bent, they lift up a round gleb, pouring out spores.

Spore powder. Dark brown.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, gardens, parks.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. With mushrooms from the genus stellate, the ripe fruits of which are in the shape of stars with a different number of blades.

Use. The mushroom is inedible, like the stars.

Birch tinder fungus, Birch sponge

Piptoporus betulinus

Fruit body. Width 5-30 cm, hoof-shaped, semicircular or reniform, the edge is ridge-shaped, bent. The skin is smooth, at first whitish, later gray-brown, brown, pale brown. The pores are whitish, in old age they acquire an ocher tint. The pulp is white, fleshy, spongy, then corky. The taste and smell are sour, in old age they are bitter.

Spore powder. Whitish.

Habitat. On dead and living birch wood.

Season. The fungus is annual, but sometimes fruiting bodies persist until spring.

Similarity. Looks like pseudo birch piptoporus (P. pseudobetulinus), which grows on aspen and has a sharp edge.

Use. At a young age it is edible, can be boiled, used for making pates.

Medicinal properties. It has antitumor and anti-inflammatory activity due to the content of polyporenic acid. The extract is obtained by distillation. Taiga people make tea from a birch sponge.

Tinder fungus

Polyporus varius

Hat. Diameter 3–8 cm, regularly rounded or lingual, depressed at the point of attachment of the stem, often with an edge divided into lobes. The skin is smooth, golden yellow or light brown, with fine radial fibers at maturity. The tubular layer is descending, white or light cream in color. The pulp is tough, white or brown, the taste is soft, the smell of mushroom.

Leg. Diameter 0.5–1 cm, short, eccentric, lateral or central, light brown, almost black over time.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On dead hardwood.

Season. Spring - autumn.

Similarity. Can be confused with scaly tinder fungus (R. squamosus) at a young age, but his cap is covered with large scales.

Use. The mushroom is not poisonous, but due to its tough pulp, it is not eaten.

Lacquered polypore

Ganoderma lucidum

Lacquered polypore

Hat. Diameter up to 10 cm, at first reniform, later flat, fan-shaped, hard, covered with a varnished film. The color is reddish-brown with yellow zones, sometimes completely red-brown, brown-violet. The hat has clearly visible growth rings of various shades, giving it an uneven appearance. The pores are small, rounded. The pulp is spongy at first, later woody, hard, light, odorless and with a bitter taste.

Leg. This is almost the only tinder fungus with a pronounced leg 5-25 cm high. The leg has a lateral position in relation to the cap. The leg is woody, the same color as the cap.

Spore powder. Brownish.

Habitat. Mainly in deciduous forests on stumps or roots.

Season. All year round.

Similarity. Due to the presence of the leg, it cannot be confused with other polypores.

Use. Inedible.

Medicinal properties. The mushroom has a variety of medicinal properties. They were known in China, Japan, India for almost two thousand years. It is considered, along with ginseng, not only a tonic, but also a medicine that increases the body's immunity to many diseases, including cancer. It is believed that it increases sexual activity, potency, and prolongs life. Various preparations and extracts from tinder fungus are used in the treatment of nephritis, hepatitis, arthritis, diabetes mellitus, herpes, allergies, diseases of the liver, kidneys, respiratory and nervous systems. In Russia, this mushroom was used to treat gums.

At home, the mushroom can be used like this:

The collected fruit bodies are cleaned of dirt and leaves with a brush. Then they are dried in the oven or in the sun at a temperature of 45-50 degrees. You can use fresh mushrooms, and prepare dried ones for future use. 5-6 g of dried or 25-30 g of fresh mushrooms are finely chopped with scissors or a knife, as the pulp is very strong. Chopped mushrooms are poured with three glasses of water, brought to a boil and insisted for 1.5-2 hours. Then they use it as tea, half a glass at a time. True, the tea leaves are bitter, especially from young mushrooms. Drinking this tea for 2-3 weeks helps to normalize blood pressure. Our own observations, which do not pretend to be scientific, have shown that the use of tea leaves accelerates the healing of wounds and helps with bronchitis. The fungus is introduced into culture in many countries. It can be safely called "mushroom ginseng".

Sheep polypore, Sheep albatrellus, Sheep rudder

Albatrellus ovinus

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, convex or flat, smooth or fractured. The color is whitish or yellowish. Small tubes are white or yellowish, turn yellow when pressed. The flesh of young mushrooms is juicy, white, with a pleasant smell and taste, while the old ones are dry and bitter.

Leg. Height 2–7 cm, diameter up to 4 cm, central or eccentric, solid, white.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In coniferous forests, it forms mycorrhiza with spruce.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. With albatrellus merging (A. confluens), which has fawn or ocher caps and forms tight groups, and also grows under various conifers.

Use. All albatrellus species are edible but have a tough flesh.

Tinder fungus bordered, wood sponge

Fomitopsis pinicola

Fruit body. Varies greatly in shape, size and color. It can be hoof-shaped, cantilever, horseshoe-shaped. The outer surface is hard, covered with a thick crust, shiny from resinous substances, on which concentric zones are located. Young mushrooms are orange-yellow or red-brown, later the color becomes dark gray, blackish. The presence of a border along the edge, which differs in color, is characteristic. The edge is dull. The pores are pale yellow. The pulp is white or yellowish-buffy, the smell is sour.

Spore powder. Light cream.

Habitat. On dead trunks of coniferous, less often deciduous trees; almost never occurs on living trunks.

Season. During the whole year.

Similarity. Young fruiting bodies can be confused with varnished tinder fungus (Ganoderma lucidum), which is distinguished by the presence of a leg and growth on deciduous species.

Use. Inedible.

Tinder fungus sulfur-yellow

Laetiporus sulphureus

Syn .: Polyporus sulphureus

Tinder fungus sulfur-yellow

Hat. Width up to 20 cm, fan-shaped, with wavy edges; as a rule, several caps are located together, growing together at the base of the stem. The weight of such colonies reaches several kilograms. The color is sulfur-yellow or yellow-orange, with a pinkish tinge, fading towards old age. The surface is covered with yellow fluff. The pores are small, yellow; at a young age, they secrete watery yellow drops. The flesh of young mushrooms is soft, juicy, sour, becoming coarse and bitter in taste towards old age.

Spore powder. Pale cream.

Season. Late spring - autumn.

Similarity. It is almost impossible to confuse with other mushrooms.

Use. The mushroom is edible at a young age. Good for making pâtés. The hard flesh at the base of the cap is not used.

Medicinal properties. Contains antibiotics, has antitumor properties, improves immunity.

Scaly tinder fungus, Pied tinder fungus, Scaly polypore, Elm tree, Pestle, Hare mushroom

Polyporus squamosus

Scaly polypore

Hat. The diameter is 10–25 cm, sometimes it reaches much larger sizes. At a young age, it is round, funnel-shaped, then takes on a fan-shaped shape with a deep depression at the junction with the leg. The color is creamy, yellow, light hazel, the surface is densely covered with concentrically arranged brown scales. The hymenophore is tubular, white, creamy yellow with age. Tubules descending along the leg. The smell and taste are pleasant.

Leg. Short, whitish-cream, black towards the base, very stiff, lateral or eccentric.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On the trunks of living and dead deciduous trees, it often grows in groups.

Season. May - November. Often it helps out in the off-season, when morel mushrooms have already departed, and there are still few other mushrooms.

Similarity. The mushroom is very characteristic for its variegated coloration. It looks like a bristly tinder fungus (R. coronatus) with smaller fruiting bodies, which grows on woody valezh, more often oak, and in some sources it is defined as a form of scaly tinder fungus. It is an edible mushroom.

Use. Edible at a young age. In old age, it becomes very tough, rubbery. The leg and the adjoining part of the cap should be removed. Used fresh (delicious in soups) and dried.

Medicinal properties. Has substances that inhibit the growth and development of pathogenic fungi.

Bristly polypore

Polyporus coronatus

Syn .: Polyporus floccipes

Polyporus squamosus f. coronatus

P. lentus

Hat. Diameter 2-10 cm, in the form of a semicircle or a circle, depressed in the center. The skin is creamy yellow, densely covered with scales of darker tones. The tubules are short, descending, fawn or ocher-cream. The pulp is white, tough, sweetish taste, pleasant smell.

Leg. Height 5–6 cm, diameter up to 1.5 cm, eccentric, pale yellow, covered with white bristles.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On dead branches of deciduous trees.

Season. Spring.

Use. Edible at a young age.

Truffle white, Shoyromyces veiny, Troitsky truffle

Choiromyces meandriformis

Truffle white

Fruit body. Diameter 4-12 cm, tuberous, potato-shaped, with tubercles, folds, brownish, grayish-white, brownish. The pulp is dry, mealy, dense, whitish or grayish. With veins that give it a marbling effect. The smell is strong, spicy.

Spore powder. Cream.

Habitat. In deciduous and mixed forests on calcareous soils. It lives underground, a mature mushroom sometimes partially protrudes to the surface.

Season. The second half of summer is autumn.

Similarity. Can be confused with winter truffle (Tuber brumale) and summer truffle (T. aestivum), which are found in the mountain forests of the Caucasus near the Black Sea coast. But in these fungi, the surface is covered with large warts.

Use. The mushroom is edible, but not of very high quality. Can be used as a condiment.

Smelly Garlic, Smelly Garlic

Marasmius foetidus

Hat. Diameter 1–3 cm, bell-shaped at first, later flat with a depression in the center. Color from yellowish to reddish brown, darker in the center. The plates are rare, interspersed with bridges, reddish. The pulp is thin with an unpleasant smell of rotten garlic.

Leg. Height up to 2.5 cm, diameter up to 0.2 cm, cylindrical, nut-colored at the top, black at the bottom.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, it grows in heap on decaying wood, mainly beech, and hazel.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. Similar to other small non-nippers, especially garlic brassicolensis (M. brassicolensis) growing in coniferous forests and smelling strongly of rotten cabbage.

Use. Inedible due to unpleasant odor, but there are no dangerous species among non-nippers.

Wheel-shaped garlic, Wheel-shaped garlic

Marasmius rotula

Wheeled garlic

Hat. Diameter up to 1.5 cm, convex, with a depression in the center, covered with radial grooves. The color is off-white, sometimes brownish. The plates are rare, adherent with a tooth, because of which, connecting with the leg, they form a semblance of a wheel hub. The pulp is very thin, tasteless, the smell is weak, garlic.

Leg. Height up to 7 cm, thickness of a needle, strong, brownish-black.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In deciduous forests on decaying wood and brushwood.

Season. May - October.

Similarity. It is similar to other types of non-nippers, but differs in the characteristic attachment of the plates to the stem.

Use. The mushroom is edible, but has no practical application due to its meager size.

Scaly fleecy, Common scaly

Pholiota squarrosa

Hat. Diameter 5-15 cm, hemispherical at first, later prostrate, with curved edges, in the center with a tubercle. Color from yellow to rusty brown with an olive tint. The skin is covered with pointed rusty scales. The plates are adherent, slightly descending along the pedicle, at first yellow, later olive or rusty brown. The pulp is white, later yellowish, very dense, the taste and smell are rare.

Leg. Height up to 14 cm, diameter 1.5–2.5 cm, cylindrical, sometimes tapering to the base, dense, of the same color as the cap, densely covered with scales. On the peduncle there is a developed membranous ring.

Spore powder. Ochery.

Habitat. In deciduous, less often coniferous forests, on stumps, weakened and living trunks.

Season. August - November.

Similarity. Young mushrooms can be confused with autumn forest (Armillaria mellea), but a rare smell will indicate an error.

Use. The mushroom is edible, but of poor quality, it can be pickled and salted in a mixture with other mushrooms.

Scaly yellow-greenish

Pholiota gummosa

Hat. Diameter 3–6 cm, convex at first, later prostrate, with a tubercle in the center. The skin is sticky, very slimy, finely scaly, light yellow, darker in the center, sometimes with a faint greenish tint. The plates are adherent, frequent, at first creamy, then light brown. The pulp is whitish or light yellow, the taste and smell are inexpressive.

Leg. Height 4–8 cm, diameter up to 1 cm, cylindrical, often curved, dense, of the same color with the cap, at the base - the color of rust.

Spore powder. Light brown.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, on or near stumps, in grassy places.

Season. Autumn.

Similarity. It looks a little like some hygrophors with light caps, but differs from them in frequent plates.

Use. Little known edible mushroom. Eat after boiling for pickling (preferably mixed with other mushrooms), you can fry. The advantage is that it grows until late autumn, when there are few other mushrooms.

Scale is hard, Vole is hard

Agrocybe dura

Scale, hard

Hat. Diameter 3–7 cm, beginning convex, later prostrate, sometimes with remnants of a veil along the edges, velvety. The color is whitish or yellowish. The plates are adherent with a tooth, cream, then dark or purple-brown. The pulp is dense, odorless, the taste is slightly bitter.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 1.5 cm, cylindrical, sometimes thickened towards the base, dense, white or pale yellow, the remains of the ring are not always visible.

Spore powder. Brown.

Habitat. Among the grass and dead wood in forests, gardens, parks.

Season. Spring - early autumn.

Similarity. With scaly, or vole, early (A. praecox).

Use. Edible, but nutritionally low value mushroom.

Syn .: Pholiota praecox

Agaricus praecox

Hat. Diameter 3–6 cm, at first convex, later flat, with a tubercle, sometimes with remnants of a veil along the edge. The skin is smooth, silky, sometimes cracked. The color is whitish, light yellow or brownish, fading. Plates are frequent, thin, light gray, later brown. The pulp is fibrous, the taste is expressionless, the smell of flour.

Leg. Height 3–6 cm, cylindrical, slightly thickened towards the base, often with longitudinal fibers, hollow at maturity. In the upper part it is white, below it gradually becomes brown. The ring is whitish, later turns brown from spores that have spilled out.

Spore powder. Brown.

Habitat. Among the grass in forests, parks, gardens, meadows, pastures, near rotting wood.

Season. From early spring to late autumn.

Similarity. With scaly, or vole, tough (A. dura).

Use. Medium quality edible mushroom, can be fried, pickled. Valuable for its appearance in the spring, when there are few other mushrooms.

Two-ring champignon, sidewalk champignon

Agaricus bitorquis

Two-ring champignon

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, semicircular, later convex-outstretched, sometimes depressed in the center, the edges are wrapped inward. The color is white or brownish. The plates are loose, frequent, pink in young mushrooms, then dark brown. The pulp is thick, white, turning pink when cut, the smell and taste are pleasant.

Leg. Height 3–7 cm, diameter up to 4 cm, cylindrical, sometimes tapering towards the base, dense, white or brownish, has two rings.

Spore powder. Dark brown.

Habitat. In the forest, on heaps of manure and garbage, in parks, gardens, lawns, along roads.

Season. Spring - autumn.

Similarity. It is very similar to other types of champignons, but differs in the presence of two rings.

Use. A delicious mushroom that can be boiled, fried, dried. It is not recommended to collect it in the city, along roads and in landfills in order to avoid poisoning with absorbed toxic substances.

Champignon double-peeled

Agaricus bisporus

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, spherical at first, later straightened. The skin is covered with brownish scales, the color from off-white, characteristic especially for the cultivated form, to brownish-brown. The plates are loose, frequent, at first pink-gray, later chocolate-brown. The pulp is dense, white, turns pink when damaged, the smell is strong, the taste is pleasant.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, hollow or filled, white or reddish, with a ring.

Spore powder. Dark brown.

Habitat. In manured places: compost heaps, silos, pastures, orchards, vegetable gardens.

Season. From spring to late autumn.

Similarity. It differs from poisonous fly agarics in the color of the plates, the absence of volva and a strong smell.

Use. A very tasty mushroom, the ancestor of the widely cultivated champignon, which is its white variety, although the brown form is also cultivated. Can be fried, pickled, dried, used as seasonings and fillings.

Medicinal properties. Contains a large amount of vitamin B2 (riboflavin), comparable to its amount in beef and milk and significantly exceeding it in vegetables and cereals. A lot of mushrooms and thiamine. Antibiotics agaridoxin and campestrin, which are active against typhoid, paratyphoid, and Staphylococcus aureus, have been isolated from the double-pore mushroom. Active drugs in the treatment of purulent wounds, tuberculosis. Contains substances that destroy cholesterol plaques. Other types of mushrooms have similar properties.

Yellow-skinned champignon, red champignon

Agaricus xanthoderma

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, first ovoid, later broadly bell-shaped. The skin is smooth, silky, finely scaly, white, turns yellow when touched. The plates are frequent, loose, at first off-white, then pink, purple-brown when ripe. The pulp is not very fleshy, white, turns yellow on the cut, the taste is unpleasant. The smell of carbolic acid, pharmacy.

Leg. Height up to 12 cm, diameter up to 2 cm, cylindrical, swollen to the base, hollow, white, ring high, grooved. In the lower part, when notched, it turns into a chrome yellow color.

Spore powder. Brown.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, gardens, parks, among the grass, in pastures, in forest belts.

Season. Summer autumn.

Similarity. It can be confused with all edible champignons, but a good distinguishing feature is the unpleasant odor, which increases with boiling. Very similar to the flat-cap mushroom, or carbolic (A. placomyces), which has a cap up to 12 cm in diameter, with scales of gray-brown or brown-black color, darker in the center; the pulp on the wounded places also turns yellow, the smell is carbolic. It can also grow outside the forest.

Use. Both species are mildly venomous. The literature contains conflicting information about the degree of toxicity, it is often exaggerated. I would like to note that the carbolic champignon is quite widely collected by our mushroom pickers and is used after boiling. It is likely that intestinal disorders that occur in some people depend on individual susceptibility. However, it is best to refrain from picking mushrooms that smell like carbolic acid or ink.

Champignon meadow, Champignon ordinary, Pecheritsa

Agaricus campestris

Syn .: Psalliota campestris

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, spherical in young mushrooms, later convex, then flat, silky, white. Sometimes in the center it is covered with rare brownish scales. In young mushrooms, the edge of the cap is connected to the stem by a frequent blanket that covers the plates. In young mushrooms, the plates are pink or meat-red, then black-brown, frequent, free. The pulp is dense, white, turns pink when cut. The taste and smell are pleasant.

Leg. Height 4-10 cm, diameter 2-4 cm, smooth, white, brown at the base. In the upper part it has a white filmy ring.

Spore powder. Purple or black brown.

Habitat. In meadows, pastures, in mown fields, in vegetable gardens on well-fertilized soil.

Season. From May until frost.

Similarity. Similar to other types of champignons with white caps: yellow-skinned poisonous champignon (A. xanthoderma), in which the pulp turns intensely yellow at the base of the leg and an unpleasant smell of carbolic acid, which intensifies during cooking; for slightly poisonous black-scaled champignon (A. meleagris) and flat-headed (A. placomyces), the whitish cap is covered with gray and black-brown scales. They appear abundantly in the forest and outside the forest in autumn, they also smell faintly of carbolic acid. They are often collected by mushroom pickers and, as it seems to us, do not cause poisoning. Perhaps some people have an individual intolerance.

Use. Delicious edible mushroom that can be boiled, fried, dried, used as a side dish.

Field champignon, Sheep champignon

Agaricus arvensis

Syn .: Psalliota arvensis

Field champignon

Hat. Diameter up to 20 cm, at first spherical, later umbellate, finally flat-convex. The skin is silky or scaly, dry, white, yellowish in old mushrooms, turns yellow from touch. The plates of young mushrooms are almost white, with a creamy shade, then gray-pink, when ripe, chocolate brown. The flesh is tender, white, yellow or reddish in mature specimens. The taste is soft, the smell is aniseed.

Leg. Height 6-15 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, slightly thickened towards the base, white or yellowish, with a two-layer ring.

Spore powder. Dark brown.

Habitat. Loves sunny places: meadows, pastures, glades, forest edges, forest belts, gardens, parks.

Season. From May until frost.

Similarity. Dangerous to be confused with white fly agaric (Amanita virosa) and with the spring fly agaric (A. verna), which are deadly poisonous.

A warning : champignons never grow from volva and they always have colored plates, while poisonous fly agarics have white ones.

Use. A very tasty mushroom, eaten fresh and dried.

Conical cap

Verpa conica

Verpa digitaliformis

Conical cap

Hat. Diameter 2–4 m, bell-conical. The color is yellowish brown, reddish brownish brown. The surface is covered with shallow, chaotically located wrinkles; as a rule, there is a dent at the top. The pulp is very fragile, brittle. The smell and taste are inexpressive.

Leg. Height up to 10 cm, cylindrical or laterally flattened, hollow, covered with small scales. The color is whitish or yellow.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. Found in almost the same places as the morel cap (Verpa bohemica), although it is a rarer species.

Season. April May.

Similarity. With a morel cap (Verpa bohemica), with semi-free mitred (Mitrophora semilibera).

Use. Can be fried after pre-boiling.

Pine-footed pinecone mushroom, Strobilomyces spotted, Hericium spotted

Strobilomyces floccopus

Syn .: S. strobilaceus

Cottonfoot mushroom

Hat. Diameter up to 15 cm, spherical at first, later flat-convex. The surface is gray or black-brown, covered with coarse large tiled scales. The adherent tubules, with large pores, turn black when pressed. Young mushrooms are covered with a gray-white blanket. The pulp is whitish, on the cut it acquires a reddish tint, turning into black and purple. Mushroom taste and smell.

Leg. Height up to 15 cm, diameter up to 3 cm, cylindrical, slightly curved, very rigid, scaly, with a rapidly disappearing ring. The color is first gray, then black.

Spore powder. Black brown.

Habitat. In forests of different types, prefers acidic soils.

Season. August - October.

Similarity. Inexperienced mushroom pickers can be confused with a grabber (Leccinum griseum), from which it differs in a scaly surface and in the presence of a veil in young mushrooms.

Use. The mushroom is edible, because of the stiff stem, only caps can be used, but due to its rarity, it is better to leave the mushroom in nature.

Garden entoloma, thyroid entoloma

Entoloma clypeatum

Syn .: Rhodophyllus clypeatum

Entoloma garden

Hat. Diameter up to 12 cm, in young mushrooms convex or bell-shaped, later unevenly spread, with irregularly curved wavy edges, with a thick tubercle in the center, radially fibrous. The color is whitish-gray, gray-brown, brownish-gray. The plates are sparse, wide, adherent to the tooth, white in young mushrooms, turning pink as the spores mature.

Leg. Height up to 12 cm, diameter up to 0.5-4 cm, fibrous, often twisted, even or curved.

Spore powder. Pink.

Habitat. In deciduous forests, gardens, parks, sometimes meadows - on nutrient-rich soils.

Season. April - May, sometimes until June.

Similarity. Very similar to tin entholoma, or poisonous (E. sinuatum), which grows in deciduous forests in summer and autumn and in mountain forests, but the cap of the underflowering plant is hygrophilous (it darkens when moisture is absorbed), and that of tin entoloma is unhygropic. Also, the podlivnik looks like a poisonous pink plate. (E. rhodopolium), found in mountain forests in summer and autumn, whose cap is thin, not fleshy, with a small tubercle, light gray or yellow-cream; for entholoma alkaline (E. nidorodum), characterized by an unpleasant odor. In addition, the mushroom looks like a silky edible rose leaf (E. sericeum), a cap which is dark gray-brown, smooth, silky, shiny and which grows from August to September, and on May mushroom (Calocibe gambosa), growing at the same time and in the same places. Mushroom pickers should clearly distinguish the garden entholoma from its poisonous counterparts and beware of the pink-leafed plants growing in summer and autumn, if there is no clear confidence in their edibility, since determination from photographs and drawings is difficult even for specialists.

Use. The mushroom is used pickled, salted, fried. In the West, it is characterized as excellent in taste, but the authors would define them as good.

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