Candy cap or curry milkcap is the English-language

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

for several closely related edible species of ''

Lactarius ''Lactarius'' is a genus of mushroom-producing, ectomycorrhizal fungi, containing several edible species. The species of the genus, commonly known as milk-caps, are characterized by the milky fluid ("latex") they exude when cut or damaged. Like ...

''; ''L. camphoratus'', ''L. fragilis'', and ''L. rubidus''. These mushrooms are valued for their highly aromatic qualities and are used culinarily as a flavoring rather than as a constituent of a full meal.

Description and classification

Candy caps are small to medium-size mushrooms, with a pileus ranging from 2–5 cm in diameter (though ''L. rubidus'' and ''L. rufulus'' can be slightly larger), and with coloration ranging through various burnt orange to burnt orange-red to orange-brown shades. The pileus shape ranges from broadly convex in young specimens to plane to slightly depressed in older ones;

lamella Lamella (plural lamellae) means a small plate or flake in Latin, and in English may refer to: Biology * Lamella (mycology), a papery rib beneath a mushroom cap * Lamella (botany) * Lamella (surface anatomy), a plate-like structure in an animal ...

e are attached to subdecurrent. The entire

fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

is quite fragile and brittle. Like all members of ''Lactarius'', the fruiting body exudes a latex when broken, which in these species is whitish and watery in appearance, and is often compared to

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard ...

or nonfat milk. The latex may have little flavor or may be slightly sweet, but should never taste bitter or acrid. These species are particularly distinguishable by their scent, which has been variously compared to

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel ('' Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the k ...

curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

fenugreek Fenugreek (; ''Trigonella foenum-graecum'') is an annual plant in the family Fabaceae, with leaves consisting of three small obovate to oblong leaflets. It is cultivated worldwide as a semiarid crop. Its seeds and leaves are common ingredients ...

, burnt sugar, Malt-O-Meal, or '' Maggi-Würze''. This scent may be quite faint in fresh specimens, but typically becomes quite strong when the fruiting body is dried. Microscopically, they share features typical of ''Lactarius'', including round to slightly ovular

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

with distinct

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a Fibril, fibrillar morphology of 7–13 Nanometer, nm in diameter, a beta sheet (β-sheet) Secondary structure of proteins, secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be Staining, ...

ornamentation and sphaerocysts that are abundant in the pileus and stipe trama, but infrequent in the lamellar trama. Lactarius_rubidus_black_background

The candy caps have been placed in various infrageneric groups of ''Lactarius'' depending on the author. BonBon M. 1983. Notes sur la systématique du genre ''Lactarius''. ''Documents Mycologiques'' 13(50): 15–26. defined the candy caps and allies as making up the subsection ''Camphoratini'' of the section ''Olentes''. Subsection ''Camphoratini'' is defined by their similarity in color, odor (with the exception of ''L. rostratus'' – see below), and by the presence of macrocystidia on their

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some ...

. (The other subsection of ''Olentes'', ''Serifluini'', is also aromatic, but have very different aromas from the ''Camphoratini'' and are entirely lacking in cystidia.)Heilmann-Clausen J, Verbeken A, Vesterholt J. 1998. ''The Genus'' Lactarius. (Fungi of Northern Europe, Volume 2.) Mundelstrup, DK: Danish Mycological Society. . Bon and later European authors treated all species that were aromatic and had at least a partially epithelial

pileipellis The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fruit body In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowe ...

as section ''Olentes'', whereas Hesler and Smith Hesler LR, Smith AH. 1979. ''North American Species of'' Lactarius. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. . and later North American authorsMethven AS. 1997. ''The Agaricales of California 10. Russulales II:'' Lactarius. Eureka, CA: Mad River Press. . treat all species with such a pileipellis (both aromatic and non-aromatic) as the section ''Thojogali''. However, a thorough

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

investigation of ''Lactarius'' has yet to be published, and older classification systems of ''Lactarius'' are generally not regarded as natural. Like other species of ''Lactarius'', candy caps are generally thought to be ectotrophic, with ''L. camphoratus'' having been identified in ectomycorrhizal root tips. However, unusually for a mycorrhizal species, ''L. rubidus'' is also commonly observed growing directly on decaying conifer wood. All candy cap species seem to be associated with a range of tree species.

Identification

It is possible to mistake other distasteful or toxic species of mushrooms for candy caps or mistakenly include such species in a larger collection of candy caps. Those inexperienced with mushroom identification may mistake any number of "little brown mushrooms" ("LBMs") for candy caps, including the deadly galerina (''Galerina marginata'' and allies), which can occur in the same habitat. Candy caps can be distinguished from non-''Lactarius'' species by their brittle stipe, while most other "LBMs" have a more flexible stipe. It is therefore recommended that candy caps be gathered by hand, breaking the fragile stipe in one's fingers. By this method, LBM's with a cartilaginous stipe will easily be distinguished.Campbell D. 2004
The candy cap complex.
'' Mycena News'' 55(3):3–4. (scroll down) Candy caps may also be confused with any of a large number of small, similarly colored species of ''Lactarius'' that may be distasteful to downright toxic depending on the species and the number consumed. Candy caps may be distinguished from other ''Lactarius'' by the following characteristics: *Odor: Candy caps have a distinctive odor (described above) that should not be present in other species of ''Lactarius''. Note, however, that other species of ''Lactarius'' may have different, but also distinctive, odors. Also note that when fresh, candy caps (especially ''Lactarius rubidus'') may not have a noticeable odor, limiting the utility of this characteristic. *Taste: The flesh and latex of candy caps should always be mild-tasting to somewhat sweet, lacking any hint of bitterness or acridity. Note, however, that there are some species of ''Lactarius'', such as ''L. luculentus'', where the bitterness is subtle and also may not be noticeable for a minute or so after tasting. *Latex: The latex of candy caps appears thin and whey-like, like milk that has been mixed with water. This latex does not change color nor does it discolor the flesh of the mushroom. Other species of ''Lactarius'' have a distinctly white or colored latex, which in some species discolors the flesh of the mushroom. *Pileus: Candy caps never have a

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