Two new species of Russula subsect. Virescentinae from southern China

Abstract Two new species from southern China, Russula subpunicea and R. albolutea, were described and illustrated. Russula subpunicea is characterized by a pinkish to dark pink pileus with striations at the margin, white lamellae without lamellulae, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid basidiospores with warts and spines sometimes joined to form a reticulum, hymenial cystidia that are mainly clavate, a suprapellis mainly composed of chains of short inflated cells with attenuated terminal cells and pileocystidia that are mainly clavate and turn reddish in sulfovanillin. Russula albolutea is recognized by a yellowish white pileus with long striations at the margin, a white stipe with a yellowish tinge, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid basidiospores, hymenial cystidia that are mainly clavate and apically often obtuse and turn mauve in sulfovanillin, and a suprapellis mainly consisting of chains of short inflated cells with attenuated terminal cells. In this study, we performed phylogenetic analysis based on the ITS-nrLSU-RPB2-mtSSU dataset. By combining detailed morphological features with multigene phylogenetic evidence, we assigned the new taxa to Russula subsect. Virescentinae.