Russula cyanoxantha
Monogr. Hymenomyc. Suec. 2(2): 194. 1863.
Common Name: none
For description see Burlingham, Siegel & Schwarz, & 'California Mushrooms'.
Scattered to gregarious in pine-fir forests; fruiting in fall at high elevation in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges. Common.
Edible and choice.
Russula cyanoxantha is recognized by a variegated cap with purple, lilac, vinaceous, and olive-green tones with splotches of pale yellow. A white stipe, white spores, mild taste, and white forking gills that have a greasy or waxy feel. Russula olivacea is a similar large species with variably colored caps ranging from olive to rosy purple, but has a reddish-blushed stipe, yellow spores, and non-forking gills.
Russula cyanoxantha is a European name and the true R. cyanoxantha probably does not occur in California. More data/research is needed to clarify the situation and provide a new name.
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 959 p.
Burlingham, G.S. (1915). Russula. North American Flora 9(4): 201-236. (PDF)
Burlingham, G.S. (1944). Studies in North American Russulae. Mycologia 36(1): 104-120. (PDF)
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Knudsen, H. & Vesterholt, J. ed. (2008). Funga Nordica: Agaricoid, boletoid and cyphelloid genera. 965 p.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Thiers, H.D. (1997). The Agaricales (Gilled Fungi) of California. 9. Russulaceae I. Russula. Mad River Press: Eureka, CA. 158 p.
