Russula fragrantissima Romagnesi. Cap 7-20cm across, subglobose, slowly expanding with incurved margin; thick, fleshy; pale yellow to yellow-brown or tawny; very viscid when wet, shiny when dry, tuberculate-striate at margin. Gills adnate, close, narrow at front; pale yellow, often beaded with moisture on margin when young; stained brown where injured. Stem 70-150 x 15-60mm, equal, firm, soon hollow; colored as cap, staining darker brown; dry, dull. Flesh hard; white. Odor fetid to almond-like, rarely very fragrant in North American collections (see Comment below). Taste oily-acrid. Spores broadly elliptic, 6-9 x 5.5-7.7µ; warts up to 1µ, high, with partial to complete reticulum. Deposit pale orange-yellow (C-D). Habitat in mixed deciduous woods. Common. Found in northeastern North America, west to Michigan, south to North Carolina. Season July-October. Not edible. Comment This species as defined in America differs markedly from European collections.