highland meadows where dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) or alpine bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpina) are abundant. Distribution and habitat Like all species of Russula, R. emetica is mycorrhizal, and forms mutually beneficial partnerships with roots of trees and certain herbaceous plants. Preferred host plants are conifers, especially pines. Fruit bodies grow singly, scattered, or in groups in sphagnum moss near bogs, and in coniferous and mixed forests. The fungus occasionally fruits on humus or on very rotten wood. The mushroom is known from North Africa, Asia and Europe and can be locally very common. There is some doubt over the extent of its range in North America, as some sightings refer to the related R. silvicola; initially the name "Russula emetica" was often applied to any red-capped white Russula. Sightings in Australia are now referred to the similarly coloured R. persanguinea. A multi-year field study of the growth of R. emetica production in a scots pine plantation in Scotland found that total productivity was 0.24–0.49 million mushrooms per hectare per year (roughly 0.1–0.2 million mushrooms/acre/year), corresponding to a fresh weight of 265–460 kg per hectare per year (49–85 lb/acre/year). Productivity was highest from August to October. The longevity of the mushrooms was estimated to be 4–7 days. In a study of the fungal diversity of ectomycorrhizal species in a Sitka spruce forest, R. emetica was one of the top five dominant fungi. Comparing the frequency of fruit body production between 10-, 20-, 30-, or 40-year-old forest stands, R. emetica was most prolific in the latter. See also List of Russula species References External links emetica Fungi of Africa Fungi of Asia Fungi of Europe Fungi of North America Poisonous fungi Fungi described in 1774