Lactarius pseudomucidus, commonly known as the slimy milk cap, is a mucilaginous species of fungus native to North America.
Description It has a charcoal brown cap, smooth and slimy, from across, initially flat convex, becoming shallowly depressed. The gills are decurrent, white with a gray or yellow tinge, staining brownish. The stipe is tall and thick; it is hollow and brittle. Both the cap and stipe are mucilaginous. The flesh is gray and the latex is milky white, drying yellowish. There is only a slight odor, and the taste slowly becomes acrid. Spores are white in mass, ellipsoid, amyloid, about 8 μm long, with a reticulate decoration on the surface.Hesler, LR, & AH Smith. 1979. North American species of Lactarius. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Smith, AH. 1975. Field guide to western mushrooms. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. The spore print is cream.
The species is inedible, with the extremely viscid cap and stalk being deterrent.
Similar species It resembles Lactarius argillaceifolius, which has a light orange-gray cap, and eastern North America's L. mucidus. Additionally, L. fumosus and Lactifluus gerardi bear similarities. Other Lactarius species with slippery, grayish caps are either zonate and/or the gills stain purple.
Distribution and habitat It is native to northwestern North America, often found in coastal and conifer forests.
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