How to tell Tacked milk cap from Fenugreek milk cap

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.

The cap is 6–15 (up to 20) cm across, which makes this a big milk cap. Convex at first, it flattens out with a sunken centre, often with a small umbo when mature. The colour is beige-brown, flesh-ochre or brownish grey, fading with age. The surface is dry, finely granular or mealy, with no distinct concentric zones.

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.

The gills are crowded, narrow, adnate or slightly decurrent, pale cream to cream-ochre and darkening with age. When damaged they exude a small amount of watery, clear-white or whey-like milk — a distinctive feature of this species: the milk is neither thick nor abundant.

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.

The stem is 5–10 cm tall and 1–2.5 cm thick, cylindrical or slightly tapering toward the base, and hollow in mature mushrooms. It’s the same colour as the cap or slightly paler: beige, flesh-coloured. The surface is dry and finely fibrous, with no ring and no volva.

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.

The flesh is pale cream and watery, thin for such a large mushroom, and turns brittle as it dries. The milk is watery, whey-like and scanty, and does not change colour in the air. Cut flesh doesn’t noticeably darken.

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.

A very strong, distinctive smell of dry hay, chicory, burnt sugar or even maple syrup, especially pronounced as it dries. This is its most characteristic feature. Here’s the paradox: the smell is appealing, but it is a warning sign, not a sign of “edibility”. Raw, the flesh tastes bitterish with a faintly acrid aftertaste.