Lactarius gerardii Pk.
Cap 4-12cm across, convex with a small umbo, becoming flat or sunken with a wavy margin; dark brown to yellowy brown, sometimes fading to golden brown; dry, velvety, and minutely wrinkled. Gills adnate to decurrent, very distant when mature, broad, 4-5 layers; white to pale cream. Stem 35-80 x 8-15mm, stuffed becoming hollow, often folded like a fan at the top; same color as cap; dry, velvety. Flesh firm, thin; white, turning yellow in 15 percent KOH. Latex white, unchanging, does not stain flesh. Odor not distinctive. Taste mild becoming slightly acrid. Spores subglobose-broadly ellipsoid, amyloid, 8-9.5 x 6.5-8.5µ; ornamented with broad bands forming a reticulum, prominences 0.50.8µ high. Deposit white. Habitat scattered to gregarious on soil in deciduous and coniferous woods. Quite common. Found widely distributed in northeastern North America. Season July-September or later. Edible. (Never eat any mushroom until you are certain it is edible as many are poisonous and some are deadly poisonous.)