Lactarius croceus Burlingham. Cap 5-10cm across, broadly convex with a depressed disc and inrolled margin, expanding to shallowly depressed and broadly funnel-shaped; bright yellow to orangy or peachy yellow, sometimes with faint concentric bands of color; sticky at first, then dry. Gills adnate-decurrent, close to subdistant, moderately broad; creamy to honey yellow or buff, bruising orange-yellow. Stem 30-60 x 10-20m, stuffed becoming hollow; same color as cap or paler; smooth or sometimes hairy at the base. Flesh brittle; whitish staining orange-yellow. Latex white changing to orange-yellow, stains gills and flesh. Taste bitter to acrid. Spores ellipsoid, nonamyloid, 7.5-10 x 5.5-7.5µ; ornamented with widely spaced bands, sometimes forming a partial reticulum, prominences 0.3-0.6µ high. Deposit yellowish. Habitat scattered on soil in deciduous woods. Found in northeastern North America. Season July-August. Not edible. |