Bare-toothed russula or Copper brittlegill

Cap 5-10 cm across, when young convex with an inrolled margin, with age becoming flattened with a slightly depressed center. The cap skin is smooth, slimy-sticky in wet weather, dry and matte in dry weather, peels back 1/3-2/3 of the way to the center, distinctly shorter than the gill edges (the telltale trait — a "toothed fringe" visible from under the skin). Color: flesh-pink, skin-pink, wine-reddish-cream, with an ochre-cream tinge toward the margin, deeper at the center. Old fruiting bodies are creamy ochre-pink and faded.

Cap up to 15 cm, hemispherical in young mushrooms, plano-convex in mature ones or with a slight depression in the center. Color reddish-orange, brick-red, fading with age to ocher-yellowish or gray-brick. The surface is sticky in wet weather and dry and matte in dry weather. The skin partly peels off.

Gilled hymenophore — the gills are attached or free from the stem, moderately crowded, thin, brittle. Color: pure white to creamy white, with no pink or yellow tinge. Spore print white.

Gills attached to the stem. White when young, cream with age, yellowish in mature mushrooms. When pressed and in damaged spots they turn slightly gray. Spore print pale ocher.

Stem 3-7 cm tall, 1.5-3 cm thick, firm, fleshy, cylindrical, with a small cavity in old specimens. Color: white to cream, often with a faint pink or rusty tinge where damaged, with fine browning spots toward the base. Surface smooth with fine lengthwise wrinkles. No ring, no volva — the crucial difference from amanitas.

Stem up to 12 cm tall, 1.5–3 cm thick, cylindrical, with no ring and no volva. White in young mushrooms, becoming gray or gray-brown with age, especially in the lower part. The surface is smooth, sometimes finely ribbed.

Flesh firm, brittle, white, when damaged slowly takes on a pale pink or cream tinge. Smell faint, pleasant, mushroomy-fruity, taste mild, sweetish and nutty (the tongue test confirms it — no burning at all).

Flesh white, springy in young mushrooms and cottony in old ones. A characteristic trait: when cut or damaged it gradually turns gray, sometimes all the way to black. This isn't a sign of toxicity but a diagnostic trait of the species. A dried mushroom has gray-brown flesh.

Faint, pleasant, fruity-mushroomy, neutral.

Smell faint, mushroomy, with no distinct notes. Taste mild, bland — an important sign, but only for a mushroom already confidently identified as a brittlegill.