Milk-cap (also milk cap, milkcap, or milky) is a

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

that refers to

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

-forming

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

of the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

Lactarius ''Lactarius'' is a genus of mushroom-producing, ectomycorrhizal fungi, containing several Edible mushroom, edible species. The species of the genus, common name, commonly known as milk-caps, are characterized by the milky fluid ("latex") they ex ...

'', '' Lactifluus'', and '' Multifurca'', all in the family Russulaceae. The common and eponymous feature of their fruitbodies is the

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

("milk") they exude when cut or bruised. Mushrooms with typical milk-cap characteristics are said to have a lactarioid

habit A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

. Some of them are edible. Historically, these species were all united in the genus ''Lactarius'', but

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis has shown that they belong in fact to three distinct

clades In biology, a clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach to taxonomy ...

: * ''

'' holds most of the milk-caps known from the Northern hemisphere. * '' Lactifluus'' contains mainly tropical species, but also some well known northern milk-caps. * '' Multifurca'' contains only one species exuding milk, '' M. furcata'' from North and Central America.

Some prominent species

*''

Lactarius deliciosus ''Lactarius deliciosus'', commonly known as the delicious milk cap, saffron milk cap, or red pine mushroom, is one of the best-known members of the large milk-cap genus ''Lactarius'' in the order Russulales. It is native to Europe, but has been ...

'' - "saffron milk-cap" or "red pine mushroom" *''

Lactarius deterrimus ''Lactarius deterrimus'', also known as false saffron milkcap or orange milkcap, is a species of fungus in the family (biology), family Russulaceae. The fungus produces medium-sized basidiocarp, fruit bodies (mushrooms) with orangish pileus (my ...

'' - "false saffron milk-cap" *'' Lactarius indigo'' - "indigo milk-cap" *'' Lactarius quietus'' - "oak milk-cap" *''

Lactarius torminosus ''Lactarius torminosus'', commonly known as the woolly milkcap or the bearded milkcap, is a large species of agaric fungus. It was first described scientifically by Jacob Christian Schäffer in 1774 as an ''Agaricus'', and later transferred to t ...

'' - "woolly milk-cap" *'' Lactarius turpis'' - "ugly milk-cap" *''

Lactifluus piperatus ''Lactifluus piperatus'' (synonym ''Lactarius piperatus''), commonly known as the blancaccio, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus '' Lactifluus''. It was the original type species of the genus ''Lactarius'', before being moved to ''Lactifluus ...

'' – "peppery milk-cap" *''

Lactifluus vellereus ''Lactifluus vellereus'' (formerly ''Lactarius vellereus''), commonly known as the fleecy milk-cap, is a quite large fungus in the genus ''Lactifluus''. It is one of the two most common milk-caps found with beech, beech trees, with the other bei ...

'' – "fleecy milk-cap" *'' Lactifluus volemus'' – "weeping milk-cap" or "voluminous-latex milky"

References

{{fungus common name Mycology Russulales Russulales genera

Some prominent species

See also

References