Magnificent Mushrooms! #24

DISCLAIMER= If you are not have expert knowledge of wild mushrooms, you should always go with someone who is knowledgeable. Your life may depend on it.

Hi everyone and welcome back to another look at our magnificent wild mushrooms! It has been a while since we have posted about mushrooms, so it’s time we get back to it. Today we will look at the Orange Milk Cap mushroom (lactarius croceus).

This is a fairly common mushroom in our area and is found all over the northeast area of North America. The caps can be anywhere from 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10cm) wide and the stem is from 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.5cm) tall. The cap is smooth but will turn sticky when it is wet. The cap color is a fairly bright yellowish orange. The stems are paler than the cap and can look almost white at times.

Orange Milkcap.

The latex produced by this species is bitter and white, drying to a yellowish orange color. It also produces a fruity type odor. This mushroom can be found from summer through fall. It is a nice looking mushroom but is considered INEDIBLE. We have so many mushrooms that are poisonous or just plain inedible in our area.

That is why the disclaimer at the top. Don’t trust completely a book or online guide, as pictures can sometimes look quite different from the real life mushroom. Some wild mushrooms are delicious, but you want to make sure it’s the right one. Well, have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2025 Steve McLeod.