COMMON NAME: Larch Suillus.

CAP: (3.5-14 cm) wide, convex to nearly plane; surface smooth, shiny, sticky and slimy, color variable (orange-yellow, dull red, red-brown, reddish brown, dark reddish brown, or dark chestnut-brown); flesh pale orange-yellow, bruising pinkish brown; odor and taste not distinctive.

PORE SURFACE: yellow when young, darkening to olive-yellow or olive-brown in age, staining brownish when bruised; pores angular, 1-3 per mm.

STALK: (4-14 cm) long, (1-3 cm) thick, nearly equal or enlarging slightly downward, solid, yellow and smooth above the ring, streaked reddish brown to brown below and often whitish near the base, sticky and slimy; partial veil yellowish with reddish brown streaks, cottony with a gelatinous covering, forming a gelatinous superior ring; lacking glandular dots; flesh yellowish, not staining distinctly green at the base when cut.

SPORE PRINT: olive-brown to dull cinnamon.

MICROSCOPIC FEATURES: spores 8-10 x 2.5-3.5 μm ellipsoid, smooth, pale straw-color to nearly hyaline.

FRUITING: scattered or in groups on the ground or among sphagnum mosses under larch; September-November; fairly common.

EDIBILITY: edible.

COMMENTS: some authors consider the darker colored form to be a variety, Suillus grevillei var. clintonianus, or a distinct species, Suillus clintonianus.

From Mushrooms of Northeastern North America Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette, & David W. Fischer  Copright © 1997 Syracuse University, ISBN 0-8156-0388-6