THE WHITE-SPORED AGARICS 



195 



Rassula rubra, Fr. 



The Red Russula. 



Rubra means red, so called from the cap being concolorous, bright vermillion ; 

 showy, becoming pale with age, center of the cap usually darker ; compact, hard, 

 fragile, convex, expanded, somewhat depressed, dry, no pellicle, often cracked 

 when old. The flesh is white, often reddish under the cuticle. 



Figure 155. Russula rubra. Two-thirds natural size. Caps bright- vermilion. Gills forked 



and tinged with red. 



The gills are adnate, rather crowded, white at first, then yellowish, many 

 forked and with some short ones intermixed, frequently tinged with red at the 

 edge. Spores 8-io,u,, cystidia pointed. 



The stem is two to three inches long, solid, even, white, often with a faint 

 reddish hue. The spores are nearly round and white. 



