Minnesota Seasons - Beautiful Russula

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed


	Description
	Beautiful Russula is a common, large, brightly colored mushroom. It is found on the ground in hardwood and mixed hardwood and coniferous forests from July to September. It grows on the roots of oaks and other hardwoods. The cap is convex when young. As it ages it flattens and sometimes develops a shallow depression at the center. It is scarlet to pinkish red, dull, sticky, and 2″ to 4″ in diameter. It develops a cracked surface with age. The skin peels only near the margin, and with difficulty. The gills are white, well spaced, and attached to the stalk. The stalk is fairly smooth, white, often flushed with pink, 1¼″ to 4″ tall, and ⅝″ to 1″ in diameter. The flesh is white. Like all Russulas, it is brittle, not fibrous, leading to the common name for this genus, Brittlegill. If you hold the stalk and push up on the cap, the cap will snap off cleanly. The taste is mild. The spores are pale cream in color.

	Similar Species
	Russula flavisiccans stem is never flushed with pink. The taste is somewhat bitter and unpleasant.


	Habitat and Hosts
	Oaks and other hardwoods


	Ecology
	Season
	July to September


	Taxonomy
	Kingdom	Fungi (fungi)
	Subkingdom	Dikarya
	Division	Basidiomycota (club fungi)
	Subdivision	Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)
	Class	Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)
	Subclass	Agaricomycetidae
	Order	Russulales
	Family	Russulaceae (milkcaps, brittlegills, and allies)
	Genus	Russula (brittlegills)

	Synonyms


	Common Names
	Beautiful Russula

Glossary

Mycorrhizal

A symbiotic, usually beneficial relationship between a fungus and the tiny rootlets of a plant, usually a tree.


	Visitor Photos

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	Lisa Tenter

	Found one mushroom in leaf litter in deeply shaded area in heavily wooded area.



	Carrie Schunk




	Grace Carlson

	There are two mushrooms, one growing in the middle of a path covered with small pebbles and one growing in the leaf litter. It’s currently 88° outside.


	Cassandra Lenhard




	Kimberly Muenchow

	the perfect red mushroom



	Kirk Nelson





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Visitor Sightings

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BigMike 9/19/2022	Location: Brook Park, MN found on Tunnel Road, a clump of 2, one was around 4" cap other one was about 2", found growing alongside the shoulder of the road in a pile of dumped yard leaves.



BigMike 9/17/2022	Location: Quarry Park - Waite Park, MN had 1, about 2" cap, right on the edge of the walking path, in leaves. Animals clearly had been chewing it.



Lisa Tenter 8/16/2020	Location: Dent, MN (Ottertail County) Found one mushroom in leaf litter in deeply shaded area in heavily wooded area.



Carrie Schunk 9/29/2018	Location: Lake County



Grace Carlson 9/15/2018	Location: Rice County, MN Latitude: 44.424597 Longitude: -93.334006 there are two mushrooms, one growing in the middle of a path covered with small pebbles and one growing in the leaf litter. It’s currently 88° outside.



Cassandra Lenhard 8/11/2018	Location: railroad trail between Taylor's Falls MN and Interstate State Park (MN)



Kimberly Muenchow 7/1/2018	Location: Afton, MN the perfect red mushroom



Gregg 6/27/2018	Location: SE Rochester, Minnesota One lone mushroom. Very Magenta Red.



Kirk Nelson 8/14/2017	Location: Lebanon Hills Regional Park



MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings

Lake Bronson State Park