Day 69: I have to tell you a story...
Russulas are fairly easy to identify as a genus. They're usually big. They generally have a coloured cap and a white stipe (stem). They tend to be brittle, and their gills are large and loose. Edible Russulas have a slightly fishy taste and, as you may already know from my previous posts, the well-known "Lobster mushroom" is actually the overgrowth of a different fungus on a Russula. Cap colour in Russulas can be tan/brown, and those types can be a little difficult to identify down to "species," but a pinkish-red or a purpleish-blue one surmounting a white stipe pretty much says, "I am a Russula," when the other factors are taken into account. Russula emetica is pictured above. The scientific name tells you all you need to know about its edibility, i.e., it has potent emetic powers.
My mother introduced me to mushrooming when I was in my 20s. I assumed she knew what she was doing because she was still walking around, but nevertheless, I only collected the species I could recognize easily on my own. On the other hand, she gathered other types for her table or for drying, including something she called "Blewits." It wasn't until some years later that I found out that a Blewit (Collybia nuda) is blue throughout: cap, stipe and flesh. My mother's "Blewits" were in fact a blue-capped Russula; edible, fortunately for her.
