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Rose-red Russula on moss
Russula sp. Genus
Angles captured. From directly above, then two excellent low obliques showing gills, stipe and the broken cuticle.
Morphology
Cap 7–9 cm, deep rose-crimson, flat to shallowly depressed, the thin cuticle cracking and lifting to expose pure white flesh beneath — textbook Russula behaviour. Gills white to faintly cream, moderately close, adnexed to almost free, brittle, some forking near the stipe. Stipe 5–7 cm, pure white, cylindrical, chalky and snapping cleanly rather than fibrous — the classic Russula texture.
Habitat & substrate
On and beside a thick bed of Leucobryum cushion moss under an open beech-oak canopy with almost no shrub layer — a clean, park-like understory with deep leaf litter.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
Genus is not in doubt — brittle white stipe, brittle gills, separable red cuticle. Species is another matter: the red-capped Russula group is notoriously difficult and includes R. emetica, R. silvicola, R. sanguinea and others. Within Russula this sits in the red-capped group, which is not separable to species in the field.
To confirm this identification
Taste a fragment of gill and spit it out — sharply acrid vs. mild splits the group roughly in half. Then spore print colour and a drop of KOH on the cap.
Notes
Three tight frames, all of them useful — the clearest Russula characters in the guide.
Found at Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Worcester, MA on Saturday, 1 August 2026 at 19:17. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Rosy-capped mushroom on a mossy logRussula sp. · Oct 25Moderate
Red Russula at an oak baseRussula sp. · Jul 23High for genus
Yellow-capped RussulaRussula sp. · Jul 31Moderate
Salmon-pink Russula on mossRussula sp. · Jul 31Moderate
Cluster with cracked orange-brown capsLactifluus or Lactarius · Jul 31Moderate
Large grey-brown brittlegillRussula sp. · Aug 1Moderate
Rosy cap with orange gillsLactarius sp. · Aug 6Moderate
Pink Russula on a mossy rockRussula sp. · Aug 6Moderate–high