High-definition photo gallery and morphological characteristics of Russula vinosa

Russula vinosa, also known as true red mushroom, big red mushroom, red zhui mushroom, big red fungus, big vermilion mushroom, etc., is a fungus of the genus Russula in the family Russulaceae, order Agaricales. It is delicious and has high nutritional value. Besides being eaten, it can also be used medicinally. Among the people it is often used to enrich the blood, and is especially good for postpartum women and people with anemia. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, before every Mid-Autumn Festival, local officials would send someone to escort a batch of red mushrooms to the capital as tribute, which made it famous far and wide.

The fruiting body of Russula vinosa is generally medium-sized. The cap is 5-12 cm in diameter, initially flatly hemispherical and later spreading flat, sticky when young, dull or velvety, dark red to dark (black) red in the center, lighter dark red at the margin, with fine transverse lines often seen at the cap edge. The flesh is white, thick, and often eaten by insects. The gills are white, becoming cream-yellow when old, sometimes tinged with red near the cap margin, somewhat crowded to somewhat sparse, often forked, with transverse veins between the gills. The stipe is long and white, with light coral red on one side or at the base, cylindrical or tapering downward, solid or soft. The spore print is white or very pale grayish white. The spores are colorless, nearly spherical, with small warts; the cystidia are nearly spindle-shaped.

Russula vinosa mostly grows in groups or singly on the ground in forests in summer and autumn. It is a mycorrhizal fungus that lives symbiotically with the root systems of trees such as paper mulberry and castanopsis. It is mostly produced in Yanling County, Hunan; Pubei County, Qinzhou, Guangxi; the Funiu Mountain area of Henan Province (Fangcheng County, Nanzhao County, etc.); Wuyishan, Fujian (famous for high-altitude red mushrooms), Sanming and other places. It is also distributed in Ganzhou, Jiangxi; Sichuan; southern Shaanxi; Yunnan; Liaoning; Hubei and other places.

Russula vinosa is rich in nutritional value and contains various amino acids and other components essential to humans. It is used to treat tumors, especially lung tumors, soreness and weakness of the waist and legs, numbness of the hands and feet, discomfort of the muscles and bones, spasms of the limbs, and to enrich the blood, nourish yin, cool and detoxify, and treat anemia, edema, malnutrition, and excessive bleeding in postpartum women. It also has effects such as increasing body immunity and fighting cancer. Regular consumption can make the skin fine and smooth, keep one full of energy, and prolong life.