Russula

Darkening Brittlegill

Russula vinosa

LC Least concern Edible 6 images
Taste rating

Characteristics

- Cap hemispherical when young, wine-red with greyish-white pruina, with age convex to expanded with a darker depressed centre.
- Gills white to cream-yellow, greying with age, near the cap margin often with a wine-red edge.
- Stem white, greying with age.
- Flesh white, greying, usually with mild taste, but young specimens are sometimes somewhat acrid-tasting.

Ecology

Grows in coniferous forest throughout the Nordic region.

Similar species

There are several similar brittlegills, but as an edible mushroom picker you do not need to distinguish them all. A wine-red brittlegill with mild and sweetish taste is edible, while the inedible brittlegills have a sharply burning taste.