North American species of Lactarius / L. R. Hesler, Alexander H. Smith.

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North American Species of Lactarius

resting place beside L. subserifuus with which it has in common the
very reduced development of rosettes in the tissues of the basidiocarp.
190. Lactarius rufulus Peck
Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 34: 346. 1907
Illus. Burlingham, Mycologia 28, fig. 5-B. Figs. 135, 137.
Pileus 5-10 cm broad, fleshy, firm, broadly convex becoming
subinfundibuliform, brown-red. Context white, latex scanty, yellowish
white, taste acrid.
Lamellae close, adnate or slightly decurrent, pinkish yellow becoming darker with age and pruinose.
Stipe 4-8 cm long, 5-6 mm thick, equal or slightly tapering upward, stuffed, often tufted and showing yellowish brown strigose
hairs at the base, sometimes radicating, colored like but paler than
the pileus.
Spore deposit creamy white (yellowish tinted). Spores globose
to subglobose, 7-9 g in diameter, with a small plage lacking diffusely
distributed amyloid material; ornamentation in the form of a broken
to complete reticulum with frequent "free ends" but few isolated
ridges present; prominences + 0.5,t high.
Basidia 45-52 X 9-11,u, 2-(?) and 4-spored. Pleurocystidia: macrocystidia none observed (Smith); pseudocystidia filamentous, refractive, scattered. Cheilocystidia scarcely differentiated-present as hyphal
end cells ~ 22-30 X 6-9 pu, not refractive. Gill trama lacking rosettes;
lactifers inconspicuous. Pileus trama lacking obvious rosettes, lactifers
inconspicuous; some scattered sphaerocysts present. Pileus cuticle of
versiform inflated cells in a poorly formed cellular layer (or a distinct
region), cells giving rise at surface to some pileocystidia which become ~ decumbent (and are not refractive in KOH). Stipe cuticle an
indefinite region of narrow longitudinally arranged hyphae, no distinct
development of caulocystidia noted. Cortex of stipe lacking rosettes
but rarely a few poorly formed ones found in the central region.
Habit, habitat, and distribution.-Subcespitose under oak, California, February and March.
Observations.-The above description is drawn from the original
and the type specimens with the one exception that detail of the stipe
was recorded from Thiers 12159. The species appears to be one of the
more easily recognized species of the California flora. Hesler noted
macrocystidia in his study of the species. The following account of the
macroscopic features is from Thiers 12159:
Pileus 4-8 cm broad when mature, plano-convex to plane when
young, typically becoming shallowly and broadly depressed with age