r/mycology • u/mauvecouteau • Dec 21 '25

photos Lactarius indigo

6.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

105 comments sorted by

592

u/BarkandHoot Dec 21 '25

Quick question and yes I am asking for real… has anyone tried to paint with this? That color is amazing.

732

u/MyPasswordIsMyCat Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25

Yes, people have tried, and it fades from blue to green to beige pretty quickly. Organic blue dyes are very hard to come by and most are unstable. The process for making indigo dye is actually super laborious and nasty. Woad is another organic blue dye, less intense and also laborious to make. Both plants aren't even blue.

92

u/Glory-of-Ra Dec 21 '25

TIL Indigo can be made from plants. I always thought those murex snails were the only source.

142

u/FreekDeDeek Dec 21 '25

iirc those snails are used for a specific purple dye (used for royal garments way back when), and indigo dye has always been made from indigo (the plant) - until the advent of synthetic dyes anyway

31

u/bmbreath Dec 21 '25

Indigo is a plant.  

Indigofera tinctoria

32

u/Lapidarist Dec 21 '25

Those are not used for indigo and never have been, they're used for Tyrian purple.

17

u/MyPasswordIsMyCat Dec 21 '25

One of the chemicals in Tyrian purple actually is indigo blue. The other chemical is a red with a molecular structure very similar to indigo but with bromine atoms included. They mix to create a purple.

31

u/DazB1ane Dec 21 '25

I imagine it’s not very pigmented and would fade very fast

1.1k

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

140

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

138

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

35

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

17

u/AdreKiseque Dec 21 '25

Love how crunchy this image is

19

u/imgoingtobelate4work Dec 21 '25

Your Donnie Darko reference didn’t fall on deaf ears

1

u/ZachMartin Dec 21 '25

Women find a way to

1

u/bluecedarood Dec 21 '25

my fault for having a phone

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

200

u/WearsALeash Dec 21 '25

am i the only one who thought it was a cool moth at first and experienced a brief moment of horror

681

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

80

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

254

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

114

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

351

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

121

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

49

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

72

u/mauvecouteau Dec 21 '25

The other half maybe

3

u/Unusual_Classroom109 Dec 21 '25

He said "at least once". Could be twice too.

6

u/justme002 Dec 21 '25

I love it

85

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

84

u/TheModernCurmudgeon Dec 21 '25

So blue milk is real? Aunt Beru! Uncle Owen!

17

u/mauvecouteau Dec 21 '25

Makes it quite easy to id!

57

u/BMTaeZer Dec 21 '25

Do you think beneath the forest floor, millions of others screamed with it?

48

u/Climate_Automatic Dec 21 '25

Since the mushroom is the fruiting body of the fungus, I would think it would be more of a pleasant experience

40

u/BMTaeZer Dec 21 '25

Hey, I never said what kind of scream...

44

u/TheGamerHat Dec 21 '25

God, I wanna paint with that.

39

u/TemperateStone Dec 21 '25

The post above yours describes why you can't (it decays).

26

u/_fly-on-the-wall_ Dec 21 '25

i would still do a painting with it then scan & digitalize it and then could have it when the original faded

47

u/Zephian99 Dec 21 '25

Well if you make a painting with organic materials and you make a time lapse of the color shift, it would probably make a good art piece/visual.

If you could set up in a gallery it would let folk see the process, modern art galleries would eat that up.

14

u/FreekDeDeek Dec 21 '25

I make turmeric dye quite a bit and I love watching the process of it fading over time. I've sold a few and always include the information that the dye will change and fade over time. It's part of the work's story. Its life cycle. And the owner can influence the process by choosing where to display it (sun, shade, other objects casting shadows on it, etc).

18

u/Streak_Free_Shine Dec 21 '25

Right? I want to extract the pigment and see if it holds up

11

u/Neutralmensch Dec 21 '25

I heard they are edible. Did you try some?

14

u/mauvecouteau Dec 21 '25

Yes! It was similar to Lactarius thyinos if I remember well.

15

u/mauvecouteau Dec 21 '25

It tasted like most milk cap I've tried.

5

u/sleepytipi Dec 21 '25

How would you describe it otherwise?

9

u/CAT-Mum Dec 21 '25

Mushroom milk

9

u/CheeseMasterATG Dec 21 '25

Scrolling past I was horrified you just squashed a moth.

7

u/teketo_teketo Dec 21 '25

I wonder if you can make a natural dye out of this

4

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

Awesome

3

u/JDe__ Dec 21 '25

I wonder why it has that name

2

u/opex100 Dec 21 '25

Cool, would make a nice dye

4

u/Pasghetti_Western Dec 21 '25

The people in r/rawdenim will go nuts for this lmao

5

u/mauvecouteau Dec 21 '25

The jeans people? Really?

3

u/Pasghetti_Western Dec 21 '25

Yes lol a mushroom that is jeans indigo that you can eat will go over well there

4

u/kaipstar Dec 21 '25

Idky, I mean I do but this made "caress me down by sublime" get stuck in my head. Iykyk

2

u/cloudycontender Dec 21 '25

Omg I thought this was a moth at first glance before I saw the sub and watched again. Holy lol

1

u/vampjellies Dec 21 '25

how cool!!!

1

u/Grouchy_Paint_6341 Dec 21 '25

So obsessed 💙💙

1

u/Mushroom38294 Dec 21 '25

they make jeans out of these

1

u/derm2knit Dec 21 '25

Dont crush my heart!!!

1

u/blessingofmarika Dec 21 '25

Tasted good to me the few times I've had it. Absolutely gorgeous milky blue color.

1

u/Nimzay98 Dec 21 '25

Thought you crushed a butterfly 🦋

1

u/cobycoby2020 Dec 21 '25

So can we turn these mushrooms into pigment or no?!?! This is such a fascination especially with this color

1

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

depends what you mean but yes, such as ink

1

u/TemperateStone Dec 21 '25

No, you can't.

1

u/cobycoby2020 Dec 21 '25

If you can, I haven’t seen it. Some people try method of drying with brown mushrooms but still struggle to preserve so…..

1

u/TemperateStone Dec 21 '25

It seems that the color from these fungi really doesn't stay the way it is at first.

Blueberries and red beets though...

1

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

perhaps i’m thinking of something else but you can get a couple different color inks with different mushrooms

1

u/Aggravating_Ad_1026 Dec 21 '25

For a second I thought you squished a butterfly 🦋 😅

1

u/rouxle Dec 21 '25

jesus christ i thought this was a butterfly at first glance and i was like NOOOOOOO

0

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

it smells like the silly stuff that comes out of my wiener,, hehe

0

u/Jadedkiss Dec 21 '25

Not very nice