Coconut milk cap or Tacked milk cap

Cap 2-5 (rarely up to 7) cm, convex at first with a small bump in the centre, then flattening and finally depressed in the centre. Grayish-lilac, lilac-brown to flesh-grey, fading with age. The surface is dry, finely fibrous or mealy, with no distinct zones. The margin is even, slightly inrolled in young mushrooms.

The cap is 5–15 cm across, occasionally bigger, and fleshy. Young caps are convex with an inrolled margin, then flatten and sink in the centre, and old ones become shallow funnels with a wavy edge.

The colour is lead grey with a lilac or violet tinge, sometimes with darker spots when young. With age it fades to yellowish, flesh pink or brownish. Concentric zones are faint or absent. In wet weather the surface is very slimy; in dry weather it's smooth and shiny.

Gills crowded, narrow, adnate or slightly decurrent. Pale cream with a pinkish or ochre tint, darkening with age. When damaged they exude a little white milk. Spore print cream.

The gills are crowded and thin, attached to the stem or running slightly down it. They're whitish at first, then cream and ochre, and old ones can show rusty spots.

Milk drying on the gills leaves grey-green or bluish-green marks, one of the best clues to this species. The spore print is cream to yellowish.

Stem 3-6 cm tall, 0.4-0.8 cm thick, slender, cylindrical, hollow in mature mushrooms. Paler than the cap: light lilac or flesh-coloured. Smooth, with no ring and no volva.

The stem is 4–8 cm tall, up to 12 cm in big specimens, and 2–3 cm thick. It's cylindrical or slightly thicker towards the base, slimy, and the same colour as the cap or paler, with a yellowish tint.

It becomes hollow with age. There is no ring and no volva.

Flesh delicate, thin, whitish with a lilac tint, watery in the stem. When damaged it exudes a little white milk that doesn't change colour in air, and the cut flesh doesn't darken either.

The flesh is white to creamy, brittle and almost cheese-like. Broken flesh oozes plenty of white milk that slowly turns yellow in the air and then dries to grey-green granules. The milk tastes mild at first, then very acrid and bitter.

A distinct smell of fresh coconut is the main diagnostic feature. It's especially noticeable as the mushroom dries or when you break the cap. Raw, the flesh tastes faintly bitterish: not acrid, but unpleasant.

The smell is faint, and in many specimens barely noticeable; some people pick up slightly fruity or herby notes. That sets it apart from the fenugreek milk cap, which smells strongly of hay and burnt sugar as it dries.