Fungal Portrait: 100

T he species shown above, Russula blumiana Bon appears in large numbers almost every year along a certain stretch of oaks in Epping Forest, Essex.Both I and my friend and colleague Mario Tortelli have known this species in this spot for over 20 years -but under the wrong name!Attempts to key the species out had led, not entirely satisfactorily, to Russula maculata.It sort of 'fitted' the description of that species but not completely.The taste was acrid but lacked the cedar wood component often reported for R. maculata.The cap was not as red or as shiny as seen in photos and although often blotchy it lacked the small dark red-brown spots that gave R. maculata its specific epithet.But at the time there was nothing else in the available keys at the time that fitted better.So R.maculata it remained for many years.