Genus: Russula (Brittlegill)

Russula (Brittlegill) — genus of fungi of family Russulaceae.

Etymology

Russula, Russula. From russulus, a, um, reddish.

Type species

Russula emetica (Schaeff.) Pers., Observ. mycol. (Lipsiae) 1: 100 (1796)

Description

Cap initially convex, then flat, slightly depressed, with acute or obtuse, smooth or ribbed margin; cuticle dry, bare, smooth, pubescent, velvety, felt-like, sticky or slimy.

Gills adnate or slightly decurrent, forked, with or without intercalary gills, sometimes with anastomoses. Gill trama near margin with spherocysts.

Stem usually cylindrical, fusoid, clavate or tapering downward, solid or loose, stuffed or with cavities, bare, smooth, fibrous or pubescent.

Veil absent (in R. vassilievae Bulach there is a universal veil in form of ring and patches on cap).

Flesh very brittle, with numerous spherocysts (which makes carpophores very fragile) and rare vascular hyphae.

Spore print from white to yellow.

Genus rather well studied. There are several monographic summaries (Singer, 1932; Schaeffer, 1952; Blum, 1962; Romagnesi, 1967), including various classification schemes.

Reference materials:

Lower Plants, Fungi and Mosses of Soviet Far East. Fungi. Vol. 1. Russulaceae, Agaricaceae, Cortinariaceae, Paxillaceae, Gomphidiaceae, Strobilomycetaceae (1990)