Fruit body: cap up to 10 cm, expanded with depressed centre, slightly slimy, zonate, dull ochraceous orange, slightly turning green. Gills are decurrent, crowded, pale vinaceous. Stem is up to 5x2 cm, cylindrical, more or less coloured as cap.

Microscopy: spores broadly ellipsoid, ornamented with warts and ridges forming an incomplete to almost complete network, 8-9.5x6.5-8 μm.

Flesh: bright orange, becoming quickly blood-red to purple, later turning to green, faint smell and slightly bitter taste. Milk is orange to brownish red.

Habitat: season summer to autumn, under pines (Pinus) on calcareous terrains.

Edibility: edible.

Reference: Heilman-Clausen, J., Verbeken, A., Vesterholt,J. (1998), The genus Lactarius, Fungi of Northern Europe vol. 2. Svampetryk

Photo: Gyorgos Konstantinidis