''Russula xerampelina'', also commonly known as the crab brittlegill or the shrimp mushroom, is a

basidiomycete Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

of the brittlegill genus ''

Russula ''Russula'' is a very large genus composed of around 750 worldwide species of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms. They are typically common, fairly large, and brightly colored – making them one of the most recognizable genera among mycologists and mush ...

''. Two subspecies are recognised. The fruiting bodies appear in coniferous woodlands in autumn in northern Europe and North America. Their

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

are coloured various shades of wine-red, purple to green. Mild tasting and edible, it is one of the most highly regarded brittlegills for the table. It is also notable for smelling of shellfish or crab when fresh.

Taxonomy

''Russula xerampelina'' was originally described in 1770 as ''Agaricus xerampelina'' from a collection in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

by the German mycologist

Jacob Christian Schaeffer Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Isla ...

, who noted the colour as ''fusco-purpureus'' or "purple-brown". It was later given its present binomial name by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries. 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 taken from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

meaning "colour of dried vine leaves", ''xeros'' meaning "dry", and ''ampělinos'' or "of the vine". Two subspecies have been recognised, var. ''xerampelina'' and var. ''tenuicarnosa'', with thinner flesh in the cap and the stipe. The name ''R. erythropoda'' is now considered 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 al ...

, and former subspecies ''R.'' (''xerampelina'' subsp.) ''amoenipes'' (originally named by Henri Romagnesi) now a separate species. A former variety with a greenish cap, ''R. xerampelina'' var. ''elaeodes'', is now classified as ''R. clavipes''. As the first defined species, it gives its name to the section ''Xerampelinae'', a group of related species within the genus ''Russula'', occasionally all termed ''R. xerampelina'' in the past.

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 contra ...

s include shrimp mushroom, shrimp Russula, crab brittlegill, and shellfish-scented Russula.

Description

''Russula xerampelina'' has a characteristic odour of boiled crustacean. The cap is wide, domed, flat, or with a slightly depressed centre, and sticky. The colour is variable, most commonly purple to wine-red, or greenish, and darker towards the centre of the cap. There are fine grooves up to a centimetre long running perpendicular to the margin. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

have a mild to rather bitter taste, narrowly spaced, and turn creamy-yellow on aging specimens. The

spore print 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...

is creamy-yellow to ochre. The oval spores measure 8.8–9.9 by 6.7–7.8

µm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

and are covered with 1 µm spines. The stipe is long, wide, cylindrical, white or sometimes with a reddish blush, bruising brown. This ''Russula'' has been divided into several similar species by some mycologists. However, they all have the singular dark green colour reaction to iron salts (

iron(II) sulfate Iron(II) sulfate (British English: iron(II) sulphate) or ferrous sulfate denotes a range of salts with the formula Fe SO4·''x''H2O. These compounds exist most commonly as the hepta hydrate (''x'' = 7) but several values for x are kno ...

) when applied to the flesh, and all smell of shellfish. This aroma is quite distinct, and becomes stronger with age. More reddish-capped forms could be confused with the sickener ('' Russula emetica''), although the latter always has a white stipe and gills; greener-capped species may resemble the also edible ''

Russula aeruginea ''Russula aeruginea'', also known as the grass-green russula, the tacky green russula, or the green russula, is an edible ''Russula'' mushroom. Widely distributed in northern temperate regions, it is usually found under birch, mostly in pine fore ...

''.

Similar species

* ''

Russula graveolens ''Russula graveolens'' is an edible species of fungus in the genus '' Russula''. The species was first officially described by Swedish mycologist Lars Romell Lars is a common male name in Scandinavia, Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' m ...

Distribution and habitat

''Russula xerampelina'' is widely distributed; quite common in 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, and often ranging into the Arctic Circle, it also ranges south to Costa Rica. Appearing in the autumn, it grows solitary, or in groups with

conifer 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 ex ...

s, and seems to have a preference for

Douglas Fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are thre ...

, or more rarely

pine trees A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

. It is sometimes found in

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

woods, such as

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

and oak. Variety ''tenuicarnosa'' has been found on sandy soils under pine in Slovakia and northern Italy in

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous regio ...

Edibility

The taste of ''Russula xerampelina'' is mild. This ''Russula'' is considered one of the best edible species of its genus, although the crab, or shrimp taste and smell will persist even when cooking. This is more pronounced and less pleasant in older specimens.''Mitchell Beazley Publishers ''> The young caps are said to be superb stuffed with any suitable ingredients, and are rarely maggoty.

References

* "Danske storsvampe. Basidiesvampe" key to Danish basidiomycetesJ.H. Petersen and J. Vesterholt eds. Gyldendal. Viborg, Denmark, 1990.

External links

Rogers Mushrooms - ''Russula xerampelina''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q302097 xerampelina Edible fungi Fungi of Europe Fungi of North America Fungi described in 1774 Taxa named by Jacob Christian Schäffer