A Mushroom’s Mumblings ft. Various

Common Name: Indigo Milk Cap

Scientific Name: Lactarius Indigo

Unlike my previous two articles, this one will hopefully be short and be filled with nonpoisonous mushrooms. The first mushroom in this will be, as you have hopefully read, the indigo milk cap, which is also edible. Surprise! However, it does not grow on the West Coast, so, to any stray mushroom foragers reading this, you will be unable to find this in Washington State. Instead, I direct you to some photos and some facts.

However, this mushroom is found in the southern and eastern areas of North America and has also been sighted in Guatemala, China, India, and France within deciduous and coniferous forests. The indigo milk cap is an ectomycorrhizal fungus and has a mutualistic relationship with pine and oak trees. I do happen to vaguely remember going over what ectomycorrhizal meant in the last article…

Oh, well. I’ll mope in a corner later if you don’t remember what it means.

Now, as seen in some of the images, the indigo milk cap is a dark blue. However, as the mushroom matures, that blue will give away to a paler blue-grey, much like one’s reaction time. Additionally, when the indigo milk cap is cut or damaged, dark blue latex will ooze out of it, much like a human. So if you do happen to trample upon it, remember, its blood is on your hands. The blue blood, that is, which will also slowly turn green when exposed to air. Either way, you’re responsible. Plead your defense later.

So with the blood of an innocent mushroom on your hands, if you wish to cook an indigo milk cap, do note that the blue color can disappear when it is cooked, similar to how a blue lobster will look red once all boiled. However, there are some methods to retain more of the blue color. Pickling, for example, is one, along with frying the mushroom. You most likely won’t find it out in the wild on the West Coast (this is not a dare), so try to stay content with the various images you can find of it online.

Common Name: N/A

Scientific Name: Mycena Subcyanocephala

Maybe you’re curious to know why this mushroom doesn’t have a common name. Or maybe you’re not curious at all and couldn’t care less for the reason. Either way, I also don’t know. But what I do know is that this mushroom was first discovered in late 2018, but only gained broader recognition on the internet by around 2023-2024. Additionally, this mushroom is the smallest known mushroom in the world, and its cap has been recorded to be around 1-3 mm tall, which is quite short for mushrooms. For scale, there is a photo of the mushroom next to a human finger for scale.

As the Mycena subcyanocephala hasn’t been spotted a lot, there isn’t much information as to whether or not the mushroom is poisonous or ‘magic’. So it’s not technically a poisonous mushroom as it hasn’t been confirmed, so this article is technically only filled with nonpoisonous mushrooms at the moment. As for where this mushroom has been found, it has, so far, only been spotted in Taiwan, specifically in subtropical areas. It often grows on or in wood. 

I’d recommend searching for more images of it online, as it genuinely looks so cool. I’m hoping that it’s spotted more often and more research is done so that we (I) can learn more and see more photos of it.