Lactarius mucidus var. mucidioides Smith & Hesler. Cap 3-9cm across, convex with an incurved margin, becoming flatter with an unevenly depressed disc and sometimes a lobed margin; dull pinky-brown or dark fawn, becoming paler toward the margin and in age; smooth, sticky. Gills adnate to short decurrent, close, narrow, often forked near stem; pale pinky-buff, becoming more yellowy in age, staining gray-green with latex. Stem 50-90 X 10-17mm, stuffed then hollow, enlarged at base to 25mm and sometimes swollen in the middle; same color as gills; smooth, sticky, rather waxy, sometimes compressed and fluted. Flesh thin, firm; pale pinky-buff. Latex white drying pale gray-green. Odor none. Taste acrid. Spores broadly ellipsoid, amyloid, 8-9 x 6.7-7.5µ; ornamented with a partial to well-developed reticulum with angular meshes and variable ridges, prominences 0.2-0.6µ high. Deposit cream. Habitat on soil under conifers. Found widely distributed in northeastern North America. Season July-October. Not edible.