Spotted Milkcap or Scrobiculate Milkcap
A handsome species with caps ranging from 2-6 inches across, this member of the milkcaps is known for the scrobicules or random shallow oval depressed hollows on the stipe. It is a terrestrial species found under spruce in the PNW, in this case Sitka spruce. It is a summer and fall species with caps that are centrally depressed, faintly zoned, yellow-orange in color and wooly at the margins. Caps and stipes are both slimy when wet. The gills are crowded and attached to slightly decurrent. They are initially white, but turn yellowish to orangish with time, dropping cream-colored spores. The latex is white but turns quickly yellow, staining the gills yellow. The flesh is white, turning slowly yellow. Stipes are short in relation to the cap, up to about 2.5 inches tall, giving the fruit body a stocky appearance. This is a toxic species that should not be eaten. The taste is intensely and immediately acrid. That said, it is eaten in Europe in some circles with special preparation that includes boiling first before sauteing and then pickling or salting the caps in a jar for later consumption. Apparently the acridness of many Lactarius species can be tamed in this fashion.