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Species in the large mushroom genus Russula are important ecologically as ectomycorrhizal fungi and economically as comestibles. Most infrageneric classification schemes of this genus have originated in Europe, but because of nomenclatural history and an evolving suite of characters these systems remain largely incongruent. Using ribosomal DNA sequences for 87 species representing all infrageneric taxa described from Europe, the phylogenetic position and relationships among these species were examined. Cladistic analysis of the ITS1, 5·8S, and ITS2 regions showed a cluster of five to six small to large clades basal in the topology and one large apical clade arising from the deeper nodes, none of which has been previously recognized in toto at the subgeneric level. Two of these groups, the Compactae and Pallidosporinae, which have been previously recognized as subsections of section Compacta, did …