''Russula caerulea'', commonly known as the humpback brittlegill, is a member of the genus '' Russula'', whose members are also known as brittlegills. It is a dark vinaceous or purple-colored

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

mushroom, and grows with

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

trees in late summer and autumn. It is found in Europe and North America.

Taxonomy

First described by mycologist Christian Hendrik Persoon in his 1801 work ''Synopsis methodica fungorum'' as ''Agaricus caeruleus'', its

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''caeruleus'' meaning "blue". It was transferred to the genus ''Russula'' in 1838 by the Swedish father of mycology

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. Career Fries was born at Femsjö (Hylte Municipality), Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in Växjö. He acquired ...

. The 1927 name ''Russula amara'' by Kučera is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

Description

The cap is in diameter. It is dark purplish-brown, with a dark, sometimes almost black centre. At first it is convex, or even nearly bell-shaped, but later flattens. It nearly always retains a broad pointed boss (umbo) in the cap centre which is a profile that is almost unique within the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. The cap skin peels to two-thirds, and it later has a furrowed margin. The firm, white stipe is high, wide and narrowly club-shaped. The gills are adnexed to almost free, and are pale ochre, giving a spore print of the same colour. They are quite closely spaced initially. The flesh is white and tastes mild, but the cap skin is bitter on the tongue. Spores are ellipsoid and ornamented. Size 8-9 μm × 6.5-8 μm.

Similar species

''Russula atropurpurea'' ( Krombh.) Britzelm is infrequent with conifers, preferring deciduous woods, and forests. Its cap is never umbonate, but usually depressed. ''Russula viscida'' Kudrna has no umbo either, and is very rare. The cuticle of the cap hardly peels at all.

Distribution and habitat

''Russula caerulea'' appears in late summer and autumn. It is widespread in the northern

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

zones, Europe, Asia, and North America. It is probably

mycorrhizal A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plan ...

with pine trees ('' Pinus''), on sandy soils.

Edibility

This mushroom is

, but has a bitter cap skin after chewing.

Image gallery

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q999441

caerulea ''Caerulea'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. It is a small genus with only two species. *'' Caerulea coeligena'' (Oberthür, 1876) western China, central China. *'' Caerulea coelestis'' (Alphéraky, 1897) Tibet, western Chin ...

Fungi of Europe Fungi of North America Fungi of Asia Edible fungi Fungus species