Blue Milk-Cap Mushrooms

Basic Information

Anatomy

Like many mushrooms, the Blue Milk Cap is a domed cap on a short nodule. The mushroom starts as a light blue to white color, and as it ages dark blue spots start to form on its top side, with the light blue between them giving it a look of lace. The cap of the fruit body will measure between 0.5 and 1.5 inches in diameter.  The height is between 1 and 3 inches.
The initial growth of the Blue Cap is outwardly just barely above the ground. Starting as a small half-inch circle at first. As it grows upward it will start to puff upward into the domed cap. As the cap grows darker spots will expand on its surface, giving its spotted zonate look when fully grown. The cap is generally attached at the center point, or slightly off-center.
The underside is blue with densely packed gills crowded close together. Their color is a medium shade of blue, that will get a little lighter as they age along the edge, becoming silvery or lightish grey in color with the darker shade of the cap, seen below them. Damage to the gills will stain them a blueish Green shade. 
The stem is firm with a spongy structure within, which gives it some bendability without snapping off. Inside the stem is a bluish-green liquid that is sticky to the touch. When the mushroom is cut or ripped the exposed area turns the bluish-green shade and becomes sticky to the touch with a musky or slightly sour smell that is acidic to taste. 
The eponymous "milk" and the spongy consistency of the flesh are the most prominent field characters of blue milk-cap mushrooms. The milk or latex emerging from bruised flesh is a vividly colored bluish-green.

Genetics and Reproduction

The mushroom cap is the fruiting part and is vital to its reproductive cycle. While they only last for a few days, the cap will release millions of spores externally breaking of and are cared away with the wind. Each of these spores can lay dormant until the proper moisture and humidity levels present themselves to grow and repeated the cycle again.

Growth Rate & Stages

The first stage of noticeable growth is the forming of the capping pad, which takes three to four days. Then it will push up into its cap-like form for about six to eight days. During which time the mushroom is also growing upward about twice as fast as it grows outward. 
the second stage stops its overall growth and starts the dark blue zonate patterns appearing as the spores are released from the mushroom. This will last one to two days and is when they are best harvested.
During the third and final stage of its short life, the mushroom dries up and turns a light whitish blue and will crumble within a day.

Ecology and Habitats

Found in the shade of trees where the leaves and sticks of the tree provide a decomposing bed of nutrients for it to grow, and trap the moisture. In damp and muddy banks near the water with tree cover, you can find large colonies of Blue Milk-Caps.

Toxicity

A potentially deadly mushroom. The Blue Milk-Caps bluish-green milky latex, when ingested can cause disorientation in small doses, paralysis, or death in large doses. Despite this some tribes in Pon-Dara eat them in small amounts as rights of passage and symbols of strength.

Scientific Name

Agaric Caeruleum Petasum

Lifespan

15 days

Average Height

1 to 3 inches

Average Weight

around 18g or 6 oz

Average Length

0.5 to 1.5 inches

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Blue with zonal dark blue spots on the top.

Toxicity
Potentially deadly.

In Game Effects

Any creature that eats this mushroom becomes mentally disorientated for 2d8 rounds.
Knowledge Check: DC 12
Category: Ingested
Saving Throw: DC 12 Constitution, additional doses will increase DC.
Primary Effect: Disadvantage on INT, WIS & PER checks and saving throws for 2d8 rounds.
Secondary Effect: 2 (1d4) poison damage
Cost: 200