Russula virescens is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Russula. It can be recognized by its distinctive pale green cap that measures up to 15 cm in diameter. It has crowded white gills, and a firm, white stipe that is up to 8 cm tall and 4 cm thick. The taste is described variously as mild, nutty, fruity, or sweet.
About Russula virescens in brief
Russula virescens is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Russula. It can be recognized by its distinctive pale green cap that measures up to 15 cm in diameter. It has crowded white gills, and a firm, white stipe that is up to 8 cm tall and 4 cm thick. The species was described as new to science in 1774 by Jacob Christian Schaeffer. Its distribution encompasses Asia, North Africa, Europe, and Central America. Its presence in North America has not been clarified, due to confusion with the similar species Russula parvovirescens and R. crustosa. It is considered to be one of the best edible mushrooms, and is especially popular in Spain and China. The taste is described variously as mild, nutty, fruity, or sweet, and can be cooked by grilling, frying, sautéeing, or eaten raw. Mushrooms are rich in carbohydrates and proteins, with a low fat content. R. virescens has a ribonuclease enzyme with a biochemistry unique among edible mushrooms. It also has biologically active polysaccharides and a laccase enzyme that can break down several dyes used in the laboratory and in the textile industry. It fruits singly or scattered on the ground in both deciduous and mixed forests, forming mycorrhizal associations with broadleaf trees such as oak, European beech, and aspen.
In the mid-Atlantic United States, it is also known locally as the moldy russula, or the green brittlegill. The cap is at first dome or barrel-shaped, becoming convex and flattened with age. The cuticle of the cap is green, most profoundly in the center, with patches of the same color dispersed radially around the center in an areolate pattern. The color of the cuticle is often of variable shade, ranging from gray to verdigris to grass-green. The green cap, frequently round, may also exhibit irregular lobes and cracks. The stipe is cylindrical and variable in height, and up to 4cm wide; it is roughly the same thickness at the top and the base at the base. The top of the stipe may be far too far away from the base to be seen at the same time, and the white portion of the top may be too far from the top to be visible at all. It may also have a white to a pale green background while the green patches lie on pale green while the background lies on a green background.
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This page is based on the article Russula virescens published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
