Synonyme: Agaricus blennius; Galorrheus blennius; Lactarius viridis; Lactifluus blennius.
Name: the Latin adjective blennius, means "slimy".
English: Slimy Milkcap; Beech Milkcap.
German: Graugrüne Milchling.
Region: Europe; British Isles, Sweden, France, Italy, Poland.
Habitat: beech forests, ectomycorrhizal with trees, typical of acidic soil.
Genus Lactarius
Content: pigments; blennins, derived from lactarane, blennin D; blennin A, a lactarane-type sesquiterpene, anti-inflammatory; blennione, a green pigment.
Use: edible, or inedible or even poisonous.
MycologyMedium-sized, mycorrhizal mushroom; slimy when wet, exudes copious amounts of milk.
Cap: flattened convex, ± 6 cm wide, later depressed in the centre; pale olive to a greenish grey, dull green or pale grey-sepia, with blotches of darker colouration in concentric bands, very slimy when moist, the margin curved inwards.
Stem: paler; very slimy; ± 4 cm tall, ± 1 cm thick, tapering a little towards the botto; flesh is whitish, later creamy or pale.
Hymenium: gills turn a brownish-grey colour when wounded, crowded, slightly decurrent or adnate. The milk is plentiful, white, dries grey, tastes very hot and acrid.
Spore print: creamy.
Spores: elliptic; with low warts joined by ridges with a small number of cross-connections.