Lactarius and Lactifluus, the milk caps, are notoriously hard to identify. In talk, we’ll go beyond species ID and learn the broader characteristics of the subgenera and sections of the milk caps, plus a history of how we got to these divisions. Learning higher order taxonomy is a gateway to useful information such as edibility and can help you narrow down your finds in the field without the use of a microscope.

About our Speaker: Bethany Beech is an amateur mycologist from New York City with a particular interest in Lactarius and Lactifluus mushrooms. Over the past five years,  she found herself seeking more information about the taxonomy of these notoriously complicated genera. Unable to find satisfying answers in books and papers, her quest led her to learn DNA sequencing and to stumble upon many undescribed species.