Excerpt from British Fungus-Flora, Vol. 3: A Classified Text-Book of Mycology
Pileus rather rigid, fleshy, becoming more or less depressed, often marked with concentric zones; gills decurrent or adnate, unequal, often branched, rather rigid, exuding a white or coloured milk when bruised; stem stout, central or very rarely excentric, its substance continuous with that of the pileus; spores subglobose, minutely echinulate, white, or sometimes with a very faint tinge of yellow.
Lactarius, Fries, Epier., p. 333; Cke., Hdbk., p. 305.
The presence of white or coloured milk which flows in drops from the pileus, and especially the gills, when wounded, is the most important generic character, and is the only one separating the present genus from Russula.
Every part of the fungus contains numerous anastomosing laticiferous cells filled with a densely granular liquid latex - or milk as termed by systematists - which escapes in drops when the tissue is broken. The latex is, in the majority of species, persistently white; in a few species the latex is white at first, and gradually changes to some other colour when exposed to the air; in a still smaller number of species, the latex is coloured before escaping from the cells. In some species the latex is tasteless, or mild; in others again it is intensely acrid or peppery, even when only a very small quantity is applied to the tongue. These peculiarities of colour and taste of the latex are of specific importance, and require to be noted.
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