Woolly milkcap
Lactarius torminosus · 毛头乳菇
Occasional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 pinkish orange with concentric zones, margin densely fringed with long white hairs
- Bleeds white latex when cut
- Common on the ground under birch
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
- 4–12 cm (cap diameter)
- Encounter Rate
- Occasional
- Habitat
- Ground in birch woods
Easily Confused With
Saffron milk capSaffron milk cap has orange milk and bruises green; woolly milkcap has white milk and a long-haired cap margin.
HatsudakeHatsudake has dark red milk; woolly milkcap has white milk and a hairy cap margin.Fun Fact
Its cap edge is thick with shaggy hairs, and its milk is white and fiercely peppery; northern Europe has a tradition of eating it after a lengthy salting process, but raw it causes severe gastrointestinal reactions.
More in this family
- Blackening brittlegill
- Charcoal burner
- Green-cracking russula
- Indigo milk cap
- Japanese russula
- Rank russula
- The sickener