Charcoal burner
Russula cyanoxantha · 蓝黄红菇
Occasional红菇科🍽 Reported Edible (Wild)
Reference sources describe this as an edible wild fungus. This guide provides no basis whatsoever for foraging or consumption.
The same species can be described differently across regions and stages of maturity, and countless look-alike species cannot be told apart by eye. Never use the information on this page to judge whether a real mushroom is safe to eat.
How to Tell
- Cap color variable, often a mix of purple, green, and blue-gray
- Gills white and pliable, not crumbling when rubbed, unlike other Russula
- Stem white; grows in hardwood forests
ID notes are compiled by AI from public sources, not reviewed by a mycologist, for learning only — never a basis for foraging.
Basics
- Family
- 红菇科
- Hymenium
- Gills
- Grows On
- Mycorrhizal
- How Big
- 5–15 cm (cap diameter)
- Encounter Rate
- Occasional
- Habitat
- Ground in broadleaf woods
Easily Confused With
Green-cracking russulaCap grayish green, surface cracking into patches
The sickenerCharcoal burner has a mottled purple-green cap and pliable gills that don't crumble; the sickener is bright red with brittle gills.
Livid pinkgillCharcoal burner has a brittle stem that snaps cleanly and white gills; livid pinkgill has a fibrous stem and gills that turn pink.Fun Fact
Most Russula gills crumble at a touch, but this one is pliable enough to bend like oiled paper without snapping — its best field mark.
More in this family
- Blackening brittlegill
- Hatsudake
- Indigo milk cap
- Japanese russula
- Rank russula
- Saffron milk cap
- Woolly milkcap