unIdentified russula

2/27/2012

So it's been raining a ton lately and I decided it was a good time to go and try to find some caps.

This was the first one I found. It was lying exactly as it can be seen in the first picture. the cap was disconnected from the stipe. It was growing in between a camelia and a crepe myrtle. 

I'm gonna flip through my field guide and see if I can identify it before I go into extensive details about it. 

due to cap features, I believe it's in the Russula family. 

meep.. no luck. 

characteristics:

Cap:

3 cm diameter

orangish/ burgundy color

convex to shield shaped

Gills:

yellow

free

pale yellow spore print

Stipe:

yellow

simple

no volva

3/20/2012 

Took a visit to the local library and flipped through the pages of National Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms

Possibly:

a) False Caesar's Mushroom (542)

b) Blackish-Red Russula (703)

c) Emetic Russula (701)

a) Amanita parcivolvata

Matches most of description except for that the spore print is not white

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_parcivolvata.html

Apparently there is much diversity in the shape of this mushroom, and that it is a definite posibility that the cap I found is just a flattened version of the mushroom. Will keep looking though, spore print had a definite yellow tint.

b) Russula krombholzii

Matches description except cap rather small, "Cap:2 3/8 - 4 3/4 [in] (6-12 cm)". Spore print matches! However the stem and gill color is too white.

Lookalikes R. fragilis, check that out here shortly. 

c) Russula emetica

Description of c is closer to specimen than b was.  

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~6008.asp

Everything fits except for the yellow flesh tint, the book's description says that that is a possibility but I don't find any references online that corroborate that statement. 

http://www.morelmushroomhunting.com/russula_emetica.htm

maybe the yellowing was something that occured with age? One cannot be certain.

d) Russula fragilis 

description does not match in many instances, spore print not white, flesh not white, and gills not attached (I think)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russula_fragilis

nope

It seems as if C is my best option, so I wonder what else I can find regarding it.

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?stat=BROWSE&query_src=photos_fungi_sci&where-genre=Fungi&where-taxon=Russula+emetica&title_tag=Russula+emetica

The cap images match perfectly and some of them have a yellow tint to their flesh. 

This ID is correct, I'm fairly certain at this point.

5/16/2012
while browsing a database after finding another russula, I stumbled upon the Russula cessans. SEE.
actually a valid possibility so I'm going to look at the details again.
Then again, LOOK HERE, it might be a russula cystidiosa. this is getting complicated...

^^ how I found the cap. disconnected.

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9198537