Lactarius indigo
Lactarius indigo is a species of agaric fungus in the family Russulaceae. It grows naturally in eastern North America, East Asia, and Central America. Young, immature caps are bluish in color, slowly turning green after being exposed to air; its taste is mild to acrid in color.
About Lactarius indigo in brief
Lactarius indigo is a species of agaric fungus in the family Russulaceae. It grows naturally in eastern North America, East Asia, and Central America. The cap has a diameter of 5 to 15 cm and the stem is 2 to 8 cm tall and 1 to 2. 5 cm thick. It is an edible mushroom, and is sold in rural markets in China, Guatemala, and Mexico. L. indigo grows on the ground in both deciduous and coniferous forests, where it forms mycorrhizal associations with a broad range of trees. The milk, or latex, that oozes when the mushroom tissue is cut or broken — a feature common to all members of the genus Lactarius — is also indigo blue, but slowly turns green upon exposure to air. The latex exuded from injured tissue is blue, and like the flesh, the latex has a mild taste. The specific epithetindigo is derived from the Latin word meaning “indigo blue”. In central Mexico, it is known as añil, azul, hongo azul,. zuin, and zuine; it is also called quexque in Veracruz and Puebla. The gills of the mushroom range from slightly adnate to decurrent to slightly decurrent.
The mushroom is not noted for producing latex, and older specimens in particular may be too out of date to produce any at all. The flesh of the entire mushroom is slightly acrid, and will snap cleanly cleanly if the stem, if bent sufficiently, will snap open sufficiently, if it is left open to dry. Young caps are sticky to the touch, and the cap may have dark blue spots, especially towards the edge of the stem. Young, immature caps are bluish in color, slowly turning green after being exposed to air; its taste is mild to acrid in color. The fruit body color ranges from dark blue in fresh specimens to pale blue-gray in older ones. The caps are often zonate: marked with concentric lines that form alternating darker zones, especially toward the cap. The margin of the cap is rolled inwards when young, but unrolls and elevates as it matures. It develops from a nodule, that forms within the underground mycelium, a mass of threadlike fungal cells called hyphae.
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This page is based on the article Lactarius indigo published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
