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In the forests, among the fallen leaves and needles, you can often see small grayish bells – this is the milk mycena. The cute mushroom is edible, but don’t pick it for soup. The fruit body is not “fleshy”, the cap is thin. It can often be confused with other species of the genus, which are generally poisonous.
What do milk mycenae look like?
Scientists attribute this mushroom to the group Agarikovyh (Lamellar). These are the species in which the lower part has plates, approximately the same as those known to all russula. Milk mycena can be distinguished by several criteria:
- Hat size, shape and color.
- The number and arrangement of plates.
- pulp properties.
- Leg features.
- Milky juice on a cut.
Mushroom is small in size, on a thin stalk. The diameter of the cap is from 1,5 to 2 cm. It is conical in shape, or looks like a bell. The older the fruiting body, the more the cap flattens, its edges can bend upwards, but a tubercle still remains in the center. The color of the surface is brownish or gray, more saturated in the center, becoming quite light towards the edges. The top does not shine, but the matte surface is slightly translucent, which is why the radially diverging plates below are visible. Therefore, it seems that the stripes diverge from the center.
Among mycenae dairy there is a polymorphism in color. In some varieties, the color is completely dark, almost black, in others it is brown. Some are almost white. There is no private cover (film covering the plates).
On the underside of the cap there are plates, including 13-18 pieces (up to 23). They stretch from the edge and are attached to the stem, slightly descending, or with a tooth. Among them there is a certain number (sometimes up to half of the total number) of shortened plates that do not reach the center. Their color is white in young specimens, becoming grayish or grayish brownish with time.
The resulting spores are elliptical, sometimes cylindrical, amyloid. The sizes are microscopic: up to 14 microns in length and up to 6 microns in width. They can only be viewed under a microscope; to study their morphology, they can be stained with iodine. Since they contain glycogen, their color will turn blue or purple (with a high concentration of iodine – black).
The stem is very thin, hollow inside. It breaks quite easily, but at the same time elastic. Its height reaches 9 cm with a diameter of 1-3 mm. Smooth along the entire length, sometimes thickening from below. The color is the same as that of the cap, darker at the base. Characteristic features of mycena milk are coarse white fibers on the stem and milky juice that stands out on the break.
The flesh is very thin, white, odorless or with a slight earthy or rare flavor. The taste is neutral, soft.
Where do milk mycenae grow
You can meet milk mycena in any forest. For their growth, you need a litter of leaves or needles. They appear at the beginning of summer and disappear in September-October, i.e. at the end of the mushroom season. Timings for different climatic zones are different.
Is it possible to eat milk mycenae
Theoretically, mycena lacta is edible. But it is not harvested, since the size of the fruiting body is too small, there is very little pulp, and the taste is not bright. In addition, it can be confused with other species of the genus, among which there are poisonous ones. Therefore, it is better not to take risks.
False doubles
Other mycenae are very similar to this species. In total, scientists have isolated about 500 representatives of the genus Mycena in nature. All of them are small, similar to each other. Among them there are poisonous ones, for example, Mycena pure, containing the alkaloid muscarine, and blue-legged, in which the hallucinogen psilocybin was found.
Mycena pure on the picture:
Mycena blue-legged:
The false twin is also Mycena alkaline:
But you can distinguish it not only by appearance, but also by smell. Dairy mycena is odorless (or slightly earthy), while alkaline really smells like lye or gas.
In some sources, the Gemicene dairy is confused with the described species. In fact, this is a completely different mushroom. It is also sometimes thought that milk mycena is a synonym for the parasitic fungus of the Candida species. But this is also false.
Conclusion
Mycena milk is a widespread forest mushroom of the genus, in which there are more than 500 representatives. They are all similar, so it is difficult to distinguish from each other. Beginners in the “quiet hunt” in appearance can only guess what kind of mushroom it is. Therefore, despite the edibility, it is better not to collect them so as not to pick up poisonous specimens.
