S.Lundell (1956) Lactarius pubescens, commonly known as the downy milk cap, is a species of fungus in the family Russulaceae.

It is a medium to large agaric with a creamy-buff, hairy cap, whitish gills and short stout stem.

The cap surface is dry and fibrillose except for the center, which is sticky and smooth when fresh, azonate, white to cream, becoming reddish-orange to vinaceous (red wine-colored) on the disc with age.

The gills are attached to slightly decurrent, crowded, seldom forked, whitish to pale yellow with pinkish tinges, slowly staining brownish ochraceous when bruised.

The stem is 2–6.5 cm (0.8–2.6 in) long, 6–13 mm (0.24–0.51 in) thick, nearly equal or tapered downward, silky, becoming hollow with age, whitish when young, becoming ochraceous from the base up when older, apex usually tinged pinkish, often with a white basal mycelium.

[11] The ectomycorrhizae that L. pubescens forms in association with Betula pendula and Populus tremuloides has been grown in pure culture and described scientifically.

[10] The fruit bodies of L. pubescens are found scattered or in groups on the ground in wet areas under birch and other hardwoods from August to October.

The fungus is common all over temperate Europe and has been reported from eastern North America, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, and western Canada; its frequency of appearance is occasional.

[19] The marasmane sesquiterpenoid pubescenone and the sesquiterpene aldehyde lactaral have been isolated from the fruit bodies of L. pubescens.