Russula densifolia - Crowded Brittlegill

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Russulales

Russula densifolia (synonym: Russula albonigra), is a large species with crowded gills. It is often mistakenly recorded as Russula nigricans, another blackening species but with thick, distant gills. This is an edible species, but it is of only moderate quality and not much sought after.

You may also find this species recorded under the synonymous scientific name Russula anthracina.

Identification Guide

Fruitbodies of this large mushroom are slow to rot, and they can be found standing or lying more or less intact on woodland floors throughout the winter months and into early spring.

Several small agaric fungi parasitise aged fruiting bodies of the Russulaceae - notably Asterophora parasitica, and Asterophora lycoperdiodes.

	Cap 6 to 12cm in diameter, convex with an inrolled margin and later slightly depressed, the caps are at first dirty-white, becoming brownish-black as the fruiting body matures.
	Gills Shortly decurrent and crowded, the gills are buff or straw-coloured at first, blackening at much the same rate as the cap blackens.
Stem	15 to 30mm in diameter and 3 to 6cm tall, the brittle stems are smooth and more or less cylindrical. The surface and the flesh of the cap blacken at much the same rate as the cap blackens. There is no stem ring.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	No distinctive odour; mildly bitter taste.
Habitat	Coniferous and broad-leaf woodland.
Season	August to October.
Occurrence	Infrequent.
Similar species	Russula nigricans has adnate, widely spaced gills and turns reddish-brown before blackening.