Russula emetica
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Russulales
Family: Russulaceae
Genus: Russula
Species:
R. emetica
Binomial name
Russula emetica
(Schaeff.) Pers. (1796)
Synonyms[1]
  • Agaricus russula Scop. (1772)
  • Agaricus emeticus Schaeff. (1774)
  • Amanita rubra Lam. (1783)[2]
  • Agaricus ruber (Lam.) DC. (1805)[3]
  • Agaricus linnaei var. emeticus (Schaeff.) Fr. (1815)[4]
  • Russula rubra (Lam.) Fr. (1838)
  • Melanoleuca russula (Scop.) Murrill (1914)[5]

Russula emetica, commonly known as the sickener, emetic russula, or vomiting russula, is a basidiomycete mushroom, and the type species of the genus Russula. It has a red, convex to flat cap up to 8.5 cm (3.3 in) in diameter, with a cuticle that can be peeled off almost to the centre. The gills are white to pale cream, and closely spaced. A smooth white stem measures up to 10.5 cm (4.1 in) long and 2.4 cm (0.9 in) thick. First described in 1774, the mushroom has a wide distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, where it grows on the ground in damp woodlands in a mycorrhizal association with conifers, especially pine.

The mushroom's common names refer to the gastrointestinal distress they cause when consumed raw. The flesh is extremely peppery, but this offensive taste, along with its toxicity, can be removed by parboiling or pickling. Although it used to be widely eaten in Russia and eastern European countries, it is generally not recommended for consumption. There are many similar Russula species that have a red cap with white stem and gills, some of which can be reliably distinguished from R. emetica only by microscopic characteristics.

Taxonomy

Russula emetica was first officially described as Agaricus emeticus by Jacob Christian Schaeffer in 1774, in his series on fungi of Bavaria and the Palatinate, Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur icones.[6] Christian Hendrik Persoon placed it in its current genus Russula in 1796,[7] where it remains. According to the nomenclatural database MycoBank, Agaricus russula is a synonym of R. emetica that was published by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772, two years earlier than Schaeffer's description. However, this name is unavailable as Persoon's name is sanctioned.[8] Additional synonyms include Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Amanita rubra (1783), and Augustin Pyramus de Candolle's subsequent new combination Agaricus ruber (1805).[1] The specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek emetikos/εμετικος 'emetic' or 'vomit-inducing'.[9] Similarly, its common names of sickener, emetic russula,[10] and vomiting russula also refer to this attribute.[11]

Russula emetica is the type species of the genus Russula.[12] According to Rolf Singer's infrageneric classification of Russula, it is also the type of the section Russula.[13][14] In an alternative classification proposed by Henri Romagnesi, it is the type species of subsection Emeticinae.[15] A molecular analysis of European Russula species determined that R. emetica groups in a clade with R. raoultii, R. betularum, and R. nana;[16] a later analysis confirmed the close phylogenetic relationship between R. emetica and the latter two Russulas.[17]

Description

Russula emetica
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is convex or flat
Hymenium is adnate or free
Stipe is bare
Spore print is white
Ecology is mycorrhizal
Edibility is poisonous
The closely spaced gills are intervenose, and occasionally forked.
The spores are elliptical to egg-shaped and ornamented with warts and spines.

The sticky cap of R. emetica is 2.5–8.5 cm (1.0–3.3 in) wide, with a shape ranging from convex (in young specimens) to flattened, sometimes with a central depression, and sometimes with a shallow umbo. It is a bright scarlet or cherry red, and in maturity, the margins have fine radial grooves extending 2–7 mm (0.08–0.3 in) towards the center of the cap. The cuticle can be readily peeled from the cap almost to the centre. The brittle flesh is white (or tinged with red directly under the cap cuticle), measures 4–9 mm (0.2–0.4 in) thick, and has a very sharp and peppery taste. Gills are closely spaced, white to creamy-white, and have an attachment to the stem ranging from adnate to adnexed or completely free. They are intervenose (containing cross-veins in the spaces between the gills) and occasionally forked near the cap margin. Fruit bodies have a slightly fruity or spicy smell.[18]

The white stem measures 4.5–10.5 cm (1.8–4.1 in) long by 0.7–2.4 cm (0.3–0.9 in) thick, and is roughly the same width throughout its length, although it can be a bit thicker near the base. Its surface is dry and smooth, sometimes marked by faint longitudinal grooves. It is either stuffed (filled with a cottony pith) or partially hollow, and lacks a ring or partial veil.[18]

Russula emetica produces a white to yellowish-white spore print. Spores are roughly elliptical to egg-shaped, with a strongly warted and partially reticulate (web-like) surface. They have dimensions of 8.8–11.0 by 6.6–8 μm, and are amyloid, meaning that they will stain blue, bluish-grey, to blackish in Melzer's reagent. Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, hyaline (translucent), and measure 32.9–50 by 9.0–11.6 μm. Cystidia located on the gill face (pleurocystidia) are somewhat cylindrical to club-shaped or somewhat spindle-shaped, and measure 35–88 by 7.3–12.4 μm. They are yellowish, and contain granular contents. Cheilocystidia (found on the edges of the gills), which are similar in shape to the pleurocystidia, are thin-walled, hyaline, and measure 14–24 by 4.4–7.3 μm. Clamp connections are absent from the hyphae.[18]

The red pigments of this and other russulas are water-soluble to some degree, and fruit bodies will often bleach or fade with rain or sunlight;[19] the cap colour of older specimens may fade to pink or orange, or develop white blotches.[20] The main pigment responsible for the red colour of the fruit bodies is called russularhodin, but little is known of its chemical composition.[21]

Toxicity

As its name implies, the sickener is inedible, though not as dangerous as sometimes described in older mushroom guides.[22] The symptoms are mainly gastrointestinal in nature: nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, and colicky abdominal cramps. These symptoms typically begin half an hour to three hours after ingestion of the mushroom,[23] and usually subside spontaneously, or shortly after the ingested material has been expelled from the intestinal tract.[18] The active agents have not been identified but are thought to be sesquiterpenes, which have been isolated from the related genus Lactarius and from Russula sardonia.[24] Sesquiterpenoids that have been identified from R. emetica include the previously known compounds lactarorufin A, furandiol, methoxyfuranalcohol, and an unnamed compound unique to this species.[25]

The bitter taste does disappear on cooking and it is said to then be edible, though consumption is not recommended.[26] The mushroom used to be widely eaten in eastern European countries and Russia after parboiling (which removes the toxins), and then salting or pickling.[27] In some regions of Hungary and Slovakia, the cap cuticle is removed and used as a spice for goulash.[28] Both the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and the American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are known to forage for, store and eat R. emetica.[29][30] Other creatures that have been documented consuming the mushroom include the snail Mesodon thyroidus,[31] several species of slugs (including Arion ater, A. subfuscus, A. intermedius, Limax maximus, L. cinereoniger, and Deroceras reticulatum),[32] the fruit flies Drosophila falleni and D. quinaria,[33] and the fungus gnat Allodia bipexa.[34]

Similar species

Russula emetica is one of over 100 red-capped Russula species known worldwide.[27] The related beechwood sickener (R. nobilis) is found under beech in Europe. Many, such as the bloody brittlegill (R. sanguinaria), are inedible; this species can be distinguished from R. emetica by the reddish flush in its stem.[27] Among the edible lookalikes, there is R. padulosa, commonly found in Europe and North America. R. aurea has a yellow stem, gills and flesh under its red cap.[35] The edible R. rugulosa—common in mixed woods in the eastern and northern United States—has a wrinkled and pimpled cap cuticle, cream spores, and mild taste.[36] Another inedible species, R. fragilis, has notched gills, and its stem stains blue with naphthol.[26] The uncommon European subspecies R. emetica longipes is distinguished by its longer stem and ochre gills.[37] The paler European mushroom R. betularum, found in coniferous forests and moorland, is sometimes considered a subspecies of R. emetica.[37] R. nana is restricted in distribution to arctic and subarctic highland meadows where dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) or alpine bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpina) are abundant.[38]

Red-capped Russula lookalikes
R. paludosa often has a less pronounced cap color R. sanguinaria has a reddish flush in its stem. R. nobilis grows in association with beech. R. aurea has a yellow stem, gills, and flesh. R. nana grows in highlands with dwarf willow or alpine bearberry.

Distribution and habitat

Like all species of Russula, R. emetica is mycorrhizal, and forms mutually beneficial partnerships with roots of trees and certain herbaceous plants. Preferred host plants are conifers, especially pines.[27] Fruit bodies grow singly, scattered, or in groups in sphagnum moss near bogs, and in coniferous and mixed forests. The fungus occasionally fruits on humus or on very rotten wood.[18] The mushroom is known from North Africa, Asia and Europe and can be locally very common.[37] There is some doubt over the extent of its range in North America, as some sightings refer to the related R. silvicola; initially the name "Russula emetica" was often applied to any red-capped white Russula.[18] Sightings in Australia are now referred to the similarly coloured R. persanguinea.[39]

A multi-year field study of the growth of R. emetica production in a scots pine plantation in Scotland found that total productivity was 0.24–0.49 million mushrooms per hectare per year (roughly 0.1–0.2 million mushrooms/acre/year), corresponding to a fresh weight of 265–460 kg per hectare per year (49–85 lb/acre/year). Productivity was highest from August to October. The longevity of the mushrooms was estimated to be 4–7 days.[40] In a study of the fungal diversity of ectomycorrhizal species in a Sitka spruce forest, R. emetica was one of the top five dominant fungi. Comparing the frequency of fruit body production between 10-, 20-, 30-, or 40-year-old forest stands, R. emetica was most prolific in the latter.[41]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Russula emetica (Schaeff.) Pers. 1796". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  2. ↑ de Lamarck JBAP. (1783). Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique (in French). Vol. 1–1. Paris; Liège (France): Panckoucke; Plomteux. p. 105.
  3. ↑ de Lamarck CJ, De Candolle AP (1805). Flore française (in French). Vol. 2 (3 ed.). Paris, France: H. Agasse. p. 140.
  4. ↑ Fries EM. (1815). Observationes Mycologicae (in Latin). Vol. 1. Copenhagen, Denmark: Gerh. Bonnier. p. 67.
  5. ↑ Murrill WA. (1914). "Agaricales (Agaricaceae)". North American Flora. 10 (1): 1–76 (see p. 22).
  6. ↑ Schäffer JC. (1774). Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur icones, nativis coloribus expressae (in Latin). Vol. 4. Erlangen, Germany: Apud J.J. Palmium. p. 9, t. 15,16.
  7. ↑ Persoon CH. (1796). Observationes Mycologicae (PDF) (in Latin). Leipzig, Germany: Apud Petrum Phillippum Wolf. p. 100. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  8. ↑ "Agaricus russula Scop. 1772". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  9. ↑ Liddell HG, Scott R. (1980). A Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
  10. ↑ Holden EM. (2003). "Recommended English Names for Fungi in the UK" (PDF). British Mycological Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-02.
  11. ↑ Volk T. (September 2004). "Russula emetica, the vomiting Russula". Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  12. ↑ "Russula Pers. 1796". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  13. ↑ Singer R. (1986). The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy (4th ed.). Königstein im Taunus, Germany: Koeltz Scientific Books. ISBN 3-87429-254-1.
  14. ↑ "Outline of the classification of European Russula according to Singer 1986 (The Agaricales in modern taxonomy)". Russulales news. 27 December 2010. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  15. ↑ Romagnesi H. (1987). "Statuts et noms nouveaux pour les taxa infragénériques dans le genre Russula". Documentation Mycologique (in French). 18: 39–40.
  16. ↑ Miller SL, Buyck B (2002). "Molecular phylogeny of the genus Russula in Europe with a comparison of modern infrageneric classifications". Mycological Research. 106 (3): 259–276. doi:10.1017/S0953756202005610.
  17. ↑ Das K, Miller SL, Sharma JR (2006). "Russula in Himalaya 2: Four new taxa". Mycotaxon. 95: 205–15.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ammirati JF, Traquair JA, Horgen PA (1985). Poisonous Mushrooms of Canada: Including other Inedible Fungi. Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside in cooperation with Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada. pp. 221, 319–321. ISBN 0-88902-977-6.
  19. ↑ Ramsbottom J. (1953). Mushrooms & Toadstools. London, UK: Collins. p. 102. ISBN 1-870630-09-2.
  20. ↑ Arora D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-89815-169-4.
  21. ↑ Watson P. (1966). "Investigation of pigments from Russula spp. by thin-layer chromatography". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 49 (1): 11–17. doi:10.1016/S0007-1536(66)80029-3.
  22. ↑ Rubel W, Arora D (2008). "A study of cultural bias in field guide determinations of mushroom edibility using the iconic mushroom, Amanita muscaria, as an example" (PDF). Economic Botany. 62 (3): 223–243. doi:10.1007/s12231-008-9040-9. S2CID 19585416.
  23. ↑ Edwards JN, Henry JA (1989). "Medical problems of mushroom ingestion". Mycologist. 3 (1): 13–15. doi:10.1016/S0269-915X(89)80006-0.
  24. ↑ Benjamin DR. (1995). Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas—A Handbook for Naturalists, Mycologists and Physicians. New York, New York: WH Freeman and Company. p. 369. ISBN 0-7167-2600-9.
  25. ↑ Kobata K, Kano S, Shibata H (1995). "New lactarane sesquiterpenoid from the fungus Russula emetica". Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry. 59 (2): 316–318. doi:10.1271/bbb.59.316.
  26. 1 2 Zeitlmayr L. (1976). Wild Mushrooms: An Illustrated Handbook. Hertfordshire, UK: Garden City Press. p. 92. ISBN 0-584-10324-7.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Roberts P, Evans S (2011). The Book of Fungi. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-226-72117-0.
  28. ↑ Rogers R. (2006). The Fungal Pharmacy: Medicinal Mushrooms of Western Canada. Edmonton, Alberta: Prairie Deva Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-9781358-1-2.
  29. ↑ Lurz PW, South AB (1998). "Cached fungi in non-native conifer forests and their importance for red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris L.)". Journal of Zoology, London. 246 (4): 468–471. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1998.tb00184.x.
  30. ↑ Camazine S, Lupo AT (1984). "Labile toxic compounds of the lactarii: the role of the laticiferous hyphae as a storage depot for precursors of pungent dialdehydes". Mycologia. 76 (2): 355–358. doi:10.2307/3793113. JSTOR 3793113. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  31. ↑ Wolf FT, Wolf FA (1939). "The snail Polygyra thyroidus as a mycophagist". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 66 (1): 1–5. doi:10.2307/2481011. JSTOR 2481011.
  32. ↑ Elliott WT. (1922). "Some observations on the mycophagous propensities of slugs". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 8 (1–2): 84–90. doi:10.1016/S0007-1536(22)80011-5.
  33. ↑ Jaenike J. (1978). "Resource predictability and niche breadth in the Drophila quinaria species group". Evolution. 32 (3): 676–678. doi:10.2307/2407734. JSTOR 2407734. PMID 28567956.
  34. ↑ Sasakawa M, Ishizaki H (2003). "Fungus gnats of the genera Anatella, Allodia and Cordyla in Japan (Diptera: Mycetophilidae)". Entomological Science. 6 (2): 97–109. doi:10.1046/j.1343-8786.2003.00013.x. S2CID 56216139.
  35. ↑ Nilson S, Persson O (1977). Fungi of Northern Europe 2: Gill-Fungi. Penguin. p. 118. ISBN 0-14-063006-6.
  36. ↑ Kibby G. (1994). An Illustrated Guide to Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Stamford, Connecticut: Lubrecht & Cramer. p. 40. ISBN 0-681-45384-2.
  37. 1 2 3 Kränzlin F. (1991). Fungi of Switzerland 6: Russulaceae. S.l.: Gartner Koeltz. p. 164. ISBN 3-85604-260-1.
  38. ↑ Laursen GA, Seppelt RD (2009). Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams: Fungi, Lichenicolous Fungi, Lichenized Fungi, Slime Molds, Mosses, and Liverworts. College, Alaska: University of Alaska Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-1-60223-058-3.
  39. ↑ Bougher NL, Syme K (1998). Fungi of Southern Australia. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-875560-80-6.
  40. ↑ Richardson MJ. (1970). "Studies on Russula emetics and other agarics in a Scots Pine plantation". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 55 (2): 217–229. doi:10.1016/S0007-1536(70)80006-7.
  41. ↑ Palfner G, Casanova-Katny MA, Read DJ (2005). "The mycorrhizal community in a forest chronosequence of Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.] in Northern England". Mycorrhiza. 15 (8): 571–579. doi:10.1007/s00572-005-0364-3. PMID 15947957. S2CID 19671092.
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