Identification
Bright red cap that peels easily, white gills, brittle flesh. The taste is sharply acrid — a nibble-and-spit test (experienced identifiers only) burns the tongue.
Why it is dangerous
The acrid compounds irritate the gut: vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain within a couple of hours. Recovery is usually quick, but the species is classed as poisonous in current guides.
In practice
- Red russula on wet conifer ground — skip; edible russulas look different.
- See the green russula and shrimp russula for comparison of edible relatives.