Russula vesca - The Flirt

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Russulales

Russula vesca, The Flirt, is also known as the Bare Toothed Brittlegill because of an approximately 2mm wide margin around the mature caps where the pellicle does not cover the ends of the gills. This species is also recorded in some field guides under the synonym Russula mitis.

The specific epithet vesca simply means edible, as of course do several other Latin words that appear in species scientific names - for example esculenta.

The gills and stem surface of this good edible brittlegill (it has a nutty flavour) rapidly turn a deep salmon when rubbed with iron salts - a useful field test.

Identification Guide

Cap	Very variable in colour, ranging from deep wine-red to buff, sometimes with brown, olive or green tints; smooth; 5–10cm across, initially globose, becoming convex and sometimes developing a shallow central depression; cuticle of mature specimens does not quite reach the margin, and so the cap flesh and gill edges are visible from the top; cuticle peels about 50% from the cap margin.
Gills	Adnexed; white or very pale cream; closely spaced; narrow; forked, particularly near to the stem.
Stem	3 to 10cm long and 1.5 to 2.5cm dia.; white surface and white flesh.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	A mild nutty taste; no distinctive odour.
Habitat	This mushroom is particularly common in Beech woodland in Britain and Ireland but, particularly on mainland Europe, it is also found in spruce plantations on acid soil.
Season	July to October.
Occurrence	Fairly common and widespread but rarely gregarious.
Similar species	Russula xerampelina, the Crab Brittlegill, smells strongly of fish or shellfish.