REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST IQOO 177 



The cap is 2-3 inches broad; the stem 1.5-3 inches long, 3-5 lines 

 thick. The plants grow in woods and swamps among mosses and fallen 

 leaves and occur from July to October. When fresh, their taste is sHghtly 

 acrid, but, when they are cooked, it is scarcely inferior to that of L, 

 deliciosus . 



Lactarius deceptivus Pk. 



DECEPTIVE LACTARIUS 



PLATE 70, FIG. 7-11 



Pileus fleshy, compact, convex and umbilicate, becoming expanded 

 and centrally depressed or almost infundibuliform, glabrous or slightly 

 tomentose except on the margin, white or whitish, often with dingy 

 yellowish or rusty stains, the margin at first involute and clothed with a 

 dense but soft white cottony tomentum which conceals the young 

 lamellae, becoming expanded and more or less fibrillose, flesh and milk 

 white, taste acrid ; lamellae rather broad, subdistant, adnate or slightly 

 decurrent, some of them forked, white or yellowish ; stem equal or taper- 

 ing downward, solid, white; spores white, subglobose, .00035-.000S of 

 an inch broad. 



The deceptive lactarius is a large, firm mushroom of a white color, 

 belonging to a group of closely related species including the peppery 

 lactarius and the fleecy lactarius, with the latter of which it is apt to be 

 confused, but from which it may be separated by the dense cottony- 

 covering of the margin of the young cap. In the mature plant the cap 

 is centrally depressed or broadly funnel-form, and the margin becomes 

 somewhat shaggy with coarse fibrils or nearly naked. It is often varied 

 by dingy yellowish or rust colored stains, specially in the center, and 

 sometimes the surface becomes sfightly scaly. The gills are broad, 

 rather widely separated and white or yellowish. When young they are 

 apt to be studded with drops of moisture. If cut or broken, they emit 

 drops of a white acrid milk. The stem is rather short, stout, solid and 

 white. 



The cap is 3-6 inches broad; the stem 1-3 inches long, 8-15 lines 

 thick. 



This lactarius grows in woods and open places and occurs from July 

 to September. It is often associated with the two species already men- 

 tioned, but in the Adirondack forests it is the prevailing species of its 

 group and is sometimes found there in great abundance when the others 

 are entirely absent. Its taste is very hot or peppery when raw, but, when 

 fried in butter, this acridity is destroyed and the mushroom becomes a 



