Gilded brittlegill or Bloody brittlegill

The cap is 4 to 9 centimetres across, hemispherical when young, opening with age to convex and then flat, sometimes slightly depressed in the centre. The surface is smooth, slightly sticky in wet weather, matte or shiny. The colouring is warm (red, orange-red or crimson), often with yellow patches and always with a yellow tint that seems to shine through the red. The skin peels slightly at the margin.

The cap is 4–10 cm across. Young caps are domed, then convex, later flat, sometimes with a shallow dip in the centre or saucer-shaped.

The colour is blood red, wine red or purplish red. As it ages the cap fades unevenly, with pink, cream or almost white patches. It is matt when dry and sticky with a silky sheen after rain. The skin holds tight and only peels as a narrow strip at the edge. That's a useful clue: on the sickener you can peel the skin almost to the centre.

The gills are fairly crowded and brittle, whitish or cream at first, taking on a golden-yellow tint as they mature, especially at the edge. The spore print is yellow or ochre-yellow. The yellowish gill edge is one of the telltale features of the species, setting it apart from white-gilled brittlegills.

The gills are fairly crowded, narrow and brittle, often forked near the stem. They are attached to the stem or run slightly down it, which few red brittlegills do. They start white or cream and turn straw-coloured or pale ochre.

The spore print is cream to pale ochre. A pure white print points to the sickener; a deep ochre one to the hintapink or Russula integra.

The stem is cylindrical, white or tinged yellowish, 4 to 8 centimetres tall and rather fragile, as in all brittlegills. It often shows golden-yellow tones, especially toward the base. The surface is smooth, with no ring and no volva. The yellowish stem together with the red-and-yellow cap sets this species apart.

The stem is 3–7 cm tall and 1–3 cm thick, cylindrical and firm, sometimes hollow in old specimens. There is no ring and no volva.

The key feature of the species is the stem colour: a pink, wine-red or red flush, strongest towards the base, with fine lengthwise streaks. Young stems can still be white, and old ones turn greyish pink with a yellowish base. A pink stem alone doesn't prove the species, since the hintapink, the rosy brittlegill and the crab brittlegill can have one too.

The flesh is white, often yellowish just under the cap skin, brittle, and doesn't change colour when cut. The taste is mild and pleasant, with no peppery heat or bitterness, which nicely sets it apart from its acrid relatives. Thanks to that mild taste, it needs no long boiling and suits any cooking method.

The flesh is white and firm, reddish under the cap skin, sometimes yellowish at the stem base, and yellows a little with age. It barely changes colour when broken and has no milk. Field guides describe the taste as hot, peppery and often bitter, milder in the stem. There's no need to taste mushrooms: the other features are enough to identify it.

The smell is faint, pleasant and mushroomy, with no sharp notes. Since the aroma isn't a defining feature, identification relies on the warm red-and-yellow cap, the golden-yellow gill edge, the yellowish tones of the stem and the mild taste of the flesh.

The smell is faint and fruity, sometimes hardly noticeable. It lacks the strong crab or herring smell of the crab brittlegill.