The sickener
Russula emetica · 毒红菇
Rare红菇科⚠️ Poisonous
Reference sources list this as a poisonous mushroom.
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 bright red, sticky when wet; skin peels easily
- Gills and stem pure white, sharply contrasting with the cap
- Grows mostly in mossy ground under pine
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
- 3–10 cm (cap diameter)
- Encounter Rate
- Rare
- Habitat
- Pine woods and sphagnum bogs
Easily Confused With
Charcoal burnerCharcoal burner has a mottled purple-green cap and pliable gills that don't crumble; the sickener is bright red with brittle gills.Fun Fact
A gastrointestinal-irritant mushroom whose Latin name literally means 'the one that makes you vomit'; the bright red cap skin peels off in one clean piece.
More in this family
- Blackening brittlegill
- Green-cracking russula
- Hatsudake
- Indigo milk cap
- Japanese russula
- Rank russula
- Saffron milk cap
- Woolly milkcap