Plants and animals of Pointfield

Cap 35 mm diameter, flat with rounded rim and shallow depression centrally; khaki-grey in colour with reddish brown spots around the edge; surface dry and slightly felted. Gills dense, adnate and cream in colour; in 3-4 cycles; yielding copious white latex milk that dries greyish. Latex with strong acrid after taste. Stalk pale and thick (38 x 11 mm); smooth and slightly expanded at base. Spore print white. Spores sub-spherical with prominent stout warts many of which are interconnected by ridges (B2 morphology); 5.5-7.0 x 5.0-5.7 um, mean = 6.2 x 5.2 um, N = 14; Q = 0.84. Cheilocystidia absent; pleurocystidia few, simple cylindrical with rounded or pointed tip towards base of gills.

A single cap in grass immediately beneath beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) at bottom of garden.