THIS DATA HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY AN EXPERT. Use at your own risk.
Bloody brittlegillRussula sanguinea
Passport
- Hymenophore
- Gilled
- Cap colour
- Red
- Size
- Medium (5–15 cm)
Inedible
Most often confused with: Sickener (poisonous).
Quick answers
Description
The bloody brittlegill (Russula sanguinea, also listed as Russula sanguinaria) is inedible: its flesh is hot and bitter, and eaten raw it can upset your stomach. It's one of the red brittlegills people most often ask about, and with red russulas the answer depends on the species. So below we explain how to tell it from the other red ones by sight alone, with no tasting involved.
Only several features together identify it. The cap is 4–10 cm across, blood red, wine red or purplish red, and fades in patches to pink and cream with age. The skin peels only at the very edge. The gills are fairly crowded, cream and later pale ochre, often forked near the stem and running slightly down it, which is unusual in a red brittlegill. The stem is firm and flushed pink or wine red, most strongly towards the base. The spore print is cream and the smell faint and fruity.
It is a mycorrhizal partner of pine. Look for it in pine woods and mixed woodland with pine, in old parks and on heathland, among needles and moss, often on sandy ground. It grows singly or in small, scattered groups across Europe, Ukraine included, from midsummer to late autumn, most often in late summer and autumn.
Is it edible? Western European field guides treat it as inedible because of its hot, often bitter taste. Raw, like other acrid brittlegills, it can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, usually within half an hour to three hours. An old Ukrainian list of fungi (Zerova and Rozhenko, 1988) counted it as edible, but the FAO review marks that entry as uncertain. We don't recommend picking it: there's little flavour to gain, and red brittlegills are easy to mix up. It isn't psychedelic.
If severe vomiting or diarrhoea starts after a mushroom meal, if a child or an older person is affected, or if you aren't sure what was eaten, call 112 (999 in the UK). A red cap doesn't prove it was a brittlegill, so keep any leftovers for the doctor.
How to tell red brittlegills apart. The sickener grows in the same places, under pine and in sphagnum, but its stem is almost always pure white, its gills and spore print are white and its skin peels almost to the centre. The hintapink also likes pine and can have a pink-tinged stem, but it's larger, up to 15–20 cm, its gills turn yellow, its spore print is ochre and it favours wet moss. The rosy brittlegill has hard, almost chalky flesh and a matt cap with yellowish spots, and grows mainly under beech and oak. The crab brittlegill smells of crab or herring as it ages, and its stem bruises brown. Russula integra has a brownish red cap, deep ochre-yellow gills and print, and a white stem. The gilded brittlegill gives itself away with yellow gills and a yellow stem.
Cap
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.
Hymenophore
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.
Stem
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.
Flesh
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.
Smell
The smell is faint and fruity, sometimes hardly noticeable. It lacks the strong crab or herring smell of the crab brittlegill.
›Scientific synonyms (1)
Russula sanguinaria (Schumach.) Rauschert
Don’t mix them up
Bloody brittlegill lookalikes and comparison
Compare with another mushroom| Feature | Bloody brittlegill | Sickener |
|---|---|---|
| Hymenophore | Gilled | Gilled |
| Cap colour | Red, Pink | Red |
| Smell | Fruity | Fruity, Odourless |
| Edibility | Inedible | Poisonous |
Other lookalikes
Readers’ finds · 0
Readers’ photos aren’t checked by an expert. “Confirmed” means foragers in the feed agree — not a guarantee. When in doubt, leave it.
Related species
Mushrooms of the same genus and habitat — to study side by side and never mix up.
Charcoal burner
Russula cyanoxantha
Copper brittlegill
Russula decolorans
Golden brittlegill
Russula risigallina
Greasy green brittlegill
Russula heterophylla
Green brittlegill
Russula aeruginea
Greencracked brittlegill
Russula virescens
Humpback brittlegill
Russula caerulea
Milk-white brittlegill
Russula delica
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Is the bloody brittlegill edible?
No, the bloody brittlegill is inedible: its flesh is hot and often bitter, and eaten raw it can upset your stomach. An old Ukrainian list of fungi from 1988 counted it as edible, but the FAO's global overview flags that entry as uncertain. We don't recommend it: there's little flavour to gain, and red brittlegills are easy to mix up.
Are red russula mushrooms edible?
Some are and some aren't: it depends on the species, not on the colour of the cap. Among red brittlegills there are edible ones such as the crab brittlegill and the hintapink, the inedible bloody brittlegill and the poisonous sickener. So identify the species first from several features together: stem colour, gill and spore print colour, how far the cap skin peels and the tree nearby. If in doubt, leave it.
Are red russulas poisonous?
Acrid red brittlegills eaten raw or undercooked can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, usually within half an hour to three hours, and it often settles by itself. If symptoms are severe, if a child or an older person is affected, or if you aren't sure what was eaten, call 112 (999 in the UK). Keep any leftovers for the doctor: a red cap doesn't prove it was a brittlegill.
Bloody brittlegill vs sickener: how do you tell them apart?
Look at the stem: the sickener's is almost always pure white, while the bloody brittlegill's is flushed pink or wine red, most strongly at the base. The sickener's gills and spore print are white; the bloody brittlegill's are cream to pale ochre. The sickener's skin peels almost to the centre of the cap, the bloody brittlegill's only at the edge. Both grow under pine, often in sphagnum, so habitat won't separate them.
How do you identify the bloody brittlegill?
Check several features together. Pine is nearby, and the cap is 4 to 10 cm, blood red to purplish red, fading in pinkish or cream patches. The skin peels only at the very edge, and the cream gills are often forked and run slightly down the stem, which is unusual in a red brittlegill. The firm stem is flushed pink or wine red towards the base, and the spore print is cream.
Russula sanguinea or Russula sanguinaria: which name is right?
Both names refer to the bloody brittlegill. Species Fungorum and iNaturalist use Russula sanguinea, while GBIF, Catalogue of Life and Wikipedia use Russula sanguinaria, because the original name given by Bulliard turned out to be an illegitimate homonym. North American mushrooms recorded under these names are probably different species, so American edibility notes don't apply to the European one.
Where does the bloody brittlegill grow?
Under pine: it is a mycorrhizal partner of pine, occasionally spruce. Look for it in pine woods and mixed woodland with pine, in old parks and on heathland, among needles and moss, often on sandy ground and sometimes at the edge of bogs. It grows singly or in small, scattered groups across Europe.
When does the bloody brittlegill appear?
From midsummer to late autumn, most often in late summer and autumn. It is a later brittlegill than many: in European records it is as common in mid-autumn as at the end of summer, and stragglers still turn up in early winter.
Sources
- [1]Species Fungorum
- [2]GBIF
- [3]iNaturalist Ukraine
- [4]Wikipedia (English)
- [5]Википедия (русская)
- [6]First Nature: Russula sanguinaria, Bloody Brittlegill
- [7]Wikipedia (de): Blut-Täubling
- [8]Boa E. Wild edible fungi: a global overview of their use and importance to people. FAO, Non-wood forest products 17, 2004, Boa E. (2004)