Look what we found yesterday, growing in sphagnum moss under spruce and fir trees: so-called Chocolate Milky Mushrooms (Lactarius lignyotus). These brown members of the Rusula family are lovely to the touch, like velvet purses or suede pouches
Unfortunately, according to Mushroom Meister Michael Kuo, in North America, “we have a big mess on our hands when it comes to [identifying] lignoytus-like mushrooms and the species complex is begging for a thorough contemporary investigation based on analysis of carefully documented collections from many locations.”
It seems that these “milk”-leaking mushrooms differ slightly depending on the species of nearby conifers. Variation “primarily occurs with regard to the stains created by the milk and the color of the gill edges,” Kuo tells us.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 22, 2021.)