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Species Information
Summary: {See also Red Russulas Table.} Clade Russula core. Russula rhodocephala is recognized by a dark red to pink dry cap with an inseparable cap skin, creamy gills, a red to pink to white stem, and a peppery taste. Note also the pale ocher spore deposit and the SV+ laticiferous hyphal system that terminates as cystidia in the cap and stem cuticle. This species in the Pacific Northwest has been known in the past as Russula rosacea, Russula sanguinea, and Russula sanguinaria. It is fairly common in the Pacific Northwest region. Russula rosacea var. macropseudocystidiata Grund (described from WA) is also considered a synonym of R. sanguinaria (Schumach.) Rauschert in the online Species Fungorum, accessed June 26, 2017, but Bazzicalupo(2) says that Russula americana matches the description of that variety. The description of R. rhodocephala is derived from Hyde(2).
Russula rhodocephala is known from BC, WA, OR, ID, and CA, (Hyde(2)). Grund found it (as R. rosacea) in WA. C. Roberts (pers. comm.) reports it from Vancouver Island in BC. It has been reported from ID by Andrew Parker, pers. comm. There are collections at the University of Washington for WA, OR, and CA (as R. sanguinea). It is included by Thiers(3) (as R. sanguinea) for CA.
Gills: adnate to slightly decurrent, spacing normal (about 1 gill per mm, presumably at the cap margin) to slightly wider, subgills can be common, forking occasionally present; cream, (Hyde), moderately close, subgills often; cream to yellow, (Woo), adnate to decurrent, close, brittle; creamy white to pale yellow, (Arora)
Stem: "shorter than the cap diameter in mature fruiting bodies, robust and cylindrical"; "flushed with pink or red", (Hyde), usually washed with pink or completely red, (Woo), 4-10cm x 1-2.5cm, equal or with a narrowed base, hollow when old; "pink or red, or at times only with a blush of red"; dry, smooth, (Arora)
Odor: "none or weakly pleasant" (Hyde), none, but some collections have a distinct fruity or geranium odor, (Woo), mild (Arora)
Taste: very peppery in gills and flesh (Hyde), quickly peppery (Woo), very peppery (Arora)
Microscopic spores: spores (6.2)7.8-7.9(10) x (4.8)6.3-6.4(7.5) microns, broadly elliptic, "ornamented with mostly isolated, amyloid, conical warts", (0.2)0.7(1.4) microns high, "with rare connections", "suprahilar spot a strongly amyloid patch"; basidia 4-spored, (37)41-49(55) x (9)10-12(14) microns; hymenial cystidia 60-65(70) x 7-8 microns, broadly clavate; cap cuticle "not sharply delimited from the underlying context of filamentous hyphae and sphaerocytes; suprapellis composed of loosely arranged, branching hyphal terminations, with cylindrical terminal cells"; pileocystidia "sometimes so long that it was hard to determine their length", when measurable up to about 40 microns long and up to 8 microns in width "and with obtuse tips", "contents refringent, also abundantly continuing as cystidioid hyphae with refractory contents in subpellis and trama"; clamp connections absent, (Hyde), spores 7.5-9.5 x 6-8 microns, ornamentation Patterson-Woo type A-2, B-2, (Woo), spores 7-9 x 6-8 microns, nearly round with amyloid warts, (Arora)
Spore deposit: yellowish (of Woo collections, about 40% Crawshay B-C, about 60% D-E), (Hyde), deep cream, Crawshay D-F, (Woo), pale yellow (Arora)
Habitat / Range
associated with Pinus contorta (Lodgepole pine), (Hyde), conifer woods, (Woo), scattered or in large troops under conifers, especially Pinus (pine), (Arora)
Similar Species
Russula americana Singer, collected on the Olympic peninsula, is identical except for larger spores ((8.5)9-11(11.5) x (7)8.2-9.5(10.8) microns), more fragile flesh, and habitat (under conifers such as Abies and Tsuga), (Woo). Note that a variant of Russula americana on Vancouver Island has intermediate spore size (Roberts, C.(2)). Russula emetica is similar but it favors swampy woods especially with Sphagnum, and R. rhodocephala has yellower gills, yellow spores and a red or pink stem, and often has somewhat decurrent gills. Russula ''xerampelina'' can be similar but has a mild to fishy odor and a mild taste and stains brown. Russula alutacea tastes mild. Russula queletii can be confused with Russula rhodocephala when the latter is old or has been exposed to rain so that it changes to somewhat purplish red, (Thiers discussing R. sanguinea). Russula silvicola Shaffer, to which the name Russula emetica has been misapplied in California, has a white stem and white spore deposit.
Hyde(2)*, Roberts, C.(2) (as Russula sanguinaria), Arora(1) (as R. rosacea), Trudell(4)* (as R. rosacea), Ammirati(1)* (as R. rosacea), Woo(1) (as R. rosacea), Thiers(3) (as R. sanguinea), Grund(2) (as R. rosacea), AroraPocket* (as R. rosacea), Bazzicalupo(2), Marrone(1)* References for the fungi
