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Milk-cap

For the children's game, see Milk caps (game).

Milk-cap (also milk cap, milkcap, or milky) is a common name that refers to mushroom-forming fungi of the genera Lactarius, Lactifluus, and Multifurca, all in the family Russulaceae. The common and eponymous feature of their fruitbodies is the latex ("milk") they exude when cut or bruised.^[1] Mushrooms with typical milk-cap characteristics are said to have a lactarioid habit. Some of them are edible.

Historically, these species were all united in the genus Lactarius, but molecular phylogenetic analysis has shown that they belong in fact to three distinct clades:^[2][3][4]

• Lactarius holds most of the milk-caps known from the Northern hemisphere.^[4]
• Lactifluus contains mainly tropical species, but also some well known northern milk-caps.^[4]
• Multifurca contains only one species exuding milk, M. furcata from North and Central America.^[2]

• Lactarius deliciosus - "saffron milk-cap" or "red pine mushroom"
• Lactarius deterrimus - "false saffron milk-cap"
• Lactarius indigo - "indigo milk-cap"
• Lactarius quietus - "oak milk-cap"
• Lactarius torminosus - "woolly milk-cap"
• Lactarius turpis - "ugly milk-cap"
• Lactifluus piperatus – "peppery milk-cap"
• Lactifluus vellereus – "fleecy milk-cap"
• Lactifluus volemus – "weeping milk-cap" or "voluminous-latex milky"

• List of Lactarius species
• List of Lactifluus species

^ Buyck B, Hofstetter V, Verbeken A, Walleyn R (2010). "Proposal to conserve Lactarius nom. cons. (Basidiomycota) with conserved type". Taxon. 59: 447–453. doi:10.1002/tax.591031.

Index of fungi with the same common name

This page is an index of articles on fungus species (or higher taxonomic groups) with the same common name (vernacular name). If an internal link led you here, you may wish to edit the linking article so that it links directly to the intended article.