Lactarius caespitosus Smith & Hesler. Cap 4-10cm across, convex with an inrolled margin, becoming shallowly depressed with an upturned margin; tawny brown to gray- or olive-brown; smooth, sticky. Gills adnate becoming decurrent, close, narrow becoming broad, 2 or 3 layers; whitish then pinkish brown. Stem 30-70 x 10-30mm, hollow; off-white to pale brown or brownish gray; slimy and sticky when fresh, shiny when dry. Flesh thick, brittle; white, unchanging when first cut, but turning yellow after several hours. Latex white, scanty, unchanging but slowly staining flesh yellow and gills brownish. Odor pleasant. Taste mild then acrid. Spores broadly ellipsoid, amyloid, 9.5-11 x 7.5-9µ; ornamented with prominences 0.2-0.5µ high forming a partial or incomplete reticulum. Deposit pale buff. Habitat scattered to gregarious or growing in dense tufts on soil under conifers in wet places. Common in the spruce-fir zone of the Rocky Mountains. Found in western North America. Season June-October. Edibility not known. |