Hintapink or Rosy brittlegill

Cap 5-15 cm across (large, fleshy), when young hemispherical, becoming with age flat and spreading with a slightly depressed center. The cap skin is smooth, shiny and slimy in wet weather, dry and matte in dry weather. Peels 2/3 of the way to the center. Color bright red, blood-red with a distinct orange or ochre tint, richer in the center. In mature caps the edge has fine radial grooves.

Cap 5-12 cm across, when young convex with an inrolled margin, with age becoming flattened with a slightly depressed center. The cap skin is firm, dry, matte, faintly velvety-felty, peels only with difficulty and incompletely — minimally or not at all. Color intensely pink, coral-pink, red-pink, with characteristic cream-colored faded patches, deeper in the center. Old fruiting bodies fade markedly to cream, with pink patches surviving only at the edges.

Gilled hymenophore — the gills are attached or free from the stem, crowded, fleshy, brittle. Color whitish at first, becoming cream-yellowish to ochre-cream with age. Spore print yellow-cream to ochre — a diagnostic feature (sets it apart from the white print of R. emetica).

Gilled hymenophore — gills adnate or free from the stem, moderately crowded, thin, brittle. Color white at first, cream with a pale ochre tinge with age. Spore print creamy white.

Stem 5-10 cm tall, 1.5-3 cm thick, firm, fleshy, cylindrical, thickening toward the base. Color whitish, often with a characteristic pink or reddish tint in the lower part — a diagnostic feature. Surface smooth with fine lengthwise wrinkles. No ring.

Stem 4-7 cm tall, 1.5-3 cm thick, very firm, fleshy, cylindrical, with a small cavity in old specimens. Color white, often with a faint pink tinge toward the base or along the whole stem. Surface dry and matte with fine lengthwise wrinkles. No ring.

Flesh firm, brittle, white, slowly turns yellow when cut (a reaction typical of the genus Russula). Smell distinctly fruity and pleasant, with a hint of apple in young specimens, taste mild, sweetish-nutty, with no bitterness or acridity at all — a diagnostic feature (tongue test).

Flesh very firm, fleshy, brittle, pure white, does not change color when cut. Smell pleasant but nondescript. Taste mild, often recalling cedarwood pencils; some fruiting bodies have a subtle bitterish note in the gills — this is normal.

A distinct, pleasant fruity-apple smell, especially in young specimens. No unpleasant notes.

Pleasant but nondescript. In this species the cedar note is in the taste, not the smell: it often recalls cedarwood pencils.