Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: bolete

mushrooms with a bolete morphology

Amanita muscaria development 2

Current / Fungus Fact

#234: Mushroom Development

My first introduction to mushrooms was as a child seeing them appear as if by magic in my family’s lawn. This mysterious way that fungi appear to pop into existence still captures my imagination, which brought me to the small but interesting field of mushroom development. So, can science explain how mushrooms appear out of thin air? Mostly, but there is still much we don’t know. Obviously, mushrooms don’t materialize out of nothing – instead, they sprout from the mycelium already growing in the substrate. Typically, this proceeds as follows: the mycelium bunches up, then the various mushroom tissues are created, and finally whole fruitbody gets larger. However, this generalized model has limitations and can’t explain all the variation we see in mushroom shapes. Why Study Mushroom Development? Before we get into the details, it is useful to discuss why mushroom development should be studied. One of the major reasons...

B. frostii 0

Fungus Fact

#220: Butyriboletus frostii

Boletes are some of the most beautiful mushrooms; their striking color combinations and distinctive textures make the entire group extremely photogenic. One of my favorite boletes to photograph is Butyriboletus frostii, commonly known as the “Candy Apple Bolete” or “Frost’s Bolete.” This mushroom is bright red with yellow and orange layered underneath and has a prominently reticulated stipe. To capture all the beauty of B. frostii, you need to photograph it when it’s young and its red pores are still covered with golden droplets. You may know this mushroom under a different name; when I first learned this mushroom way back in 2015, it was called Boletus frostii. Then its name changed to Exsudoporus frostii before changing again to Butyriboletus frostii, which is the correct name as of this writing in July 2018.

Inocybe rimosa 0

Uncategorized

2017 Mycorrhizal Mushroom Map:
1 Year, 1 Yard, 499 Mushrooms

In October of 2016, I stepped out into my back yard and found it carpeted with medium-sized brown mushrooms. Apparently, I had nothing better to do that day than attempt to identify these boring nondescript mushrooms, so I sat down with a field guide and managed to key them out to Inocybe rimosa. This was a surprising result; most of the boring brown mushrooms that pop up in yards are saprobic, but Inocybe is a mycorrhizal genus. Since I. rimosa is mycorrhizal, there is only a very limited area in my yard that it can grow. This made me wonder, “Will it grow in the same place next year?” There was only one way to answer that question: keep track of where mushrooms appear in my yard. I logged all 227 I. rimosa mushrooms and waited eagerly for 2017, when I would map all the mycorrhizal mushrooms that appeared.

Gyroporus castaneus row 3

Fungus Fact

#200: Gyroporus castaneus, The Chestnut Bolete

The most readily observable features of Gyroporus castaneus are its brown cap and small size. As any mushroom hunter knows, mushrooms with this combination of features are very hard to identify… unless your mushroom is a bolete. Only a handful of boletes are small when fully grown and most of those have a reddish cap. G. castaneus – commonly called the “Chestnut Bolete” because of its chestnut brown colors – is easy to identify thanks to its small size, light brown colors, and brittle hollow stipe. Once you’ve found a small brownish bolete, the classic test to identify it as the Chestnut Bolete is gently squeezing the stipe, which should feel hollow.

Boletinellus merulioides 1

Fungus Fact

#143: Boletinellus merulioides, the Ash Tree Bolete

Boletinellus merulioides is an odd mushroom, both in appearance and ecology. The Ash Tree Bolete can be readily identified by its tube surface – which is only a few millimeters thick and looks more like a network of ridges – and by the fact that it fruits under only ash trees. B. merulioides appears under ash because it has a unique symbiotic relationship with a pest of ash trees: the Leafcurl Ash Aphid.

Phylloporus rhodoxanthus 3

Fungus Fact

#187: Phylloporus rhodoxanthus, the Gilled Bolete

So, is it an agaric or a bolete? At first glance, the answer seems obvious: it clearly has gills and therefore must be an agaric. However, if you spend enough time around mushrooms you might get a kind of uncanny valley feeling about this mushroom; its coloration, its stature, the way its cap looks somewhat puffy, the way the cap cracks as it dries out, and other subtleties just don’t look quite right for an agaric. When you ignore the gills, the mushroom looks for all the world like a bolete! Phylloporus rhodoxanthus, commonly called “the Gilled Bolete,” is actually closely related to the boletes and evolved gills independently of the true agaric lineages.

By walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons 0

Fungus Fact

#160: Suillus luteus, the Slippery Jack

Often called the “Slippery Jack,” Suillus luteus is a fall bolete notable for its extremely slimy cap. Although you might think this texture is unsuitable for the table, the Slippery Jack is actually eaten fairly regularly. People who do eat this mushroom must make sure to peel off the upper surface of the cap. This is done for two reasons: the slimy layer does not have a very good texture and contains toxins that may cause some gastrointestinal distress.

#143: Boletinellus merulioides, the Ash Tree Bolete [Archived] 0

Archived

#143: Boletinellus merulioides, the Ash Tree Bolete [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. You can find the current version of this post here. Boletinellus merulioides is an odd mushroom, both in appearance and ecology. The Ash Tree Bolete can be readily identified by its pore surface – which is only a few millimeters thick and looks more like a network of ridges – and by the fact that it fruits only under ash trees.  merulioides appears under ash because it has a unique symbiotic relationship with a pest of ash trees: the Leafcurl Ash Aphid.

#109: Rubroboletus satanas, Satan’s Bolete or Devil’s Mushroom 0

Fungus Fact

#109: Rubroboletus satanas, Satan’s Bolete or Devil’s Mushroom

If you need a mushroom centerpiece for your Halloween party, then this is it. This large mushroom has a bulbous, bright red, reticulated base that easily invokes demonic fires (hence its common and scientific names).  As a bonus, Satan’s Bolete has a fetid odor – quite fitting, don’t you think?  Unfortunately, this mushroom is rather rare.

#108: Heimioporus betula, the Shaggy-Stalked Bolete 1

Fungus Fact

#108: Heimioporus betula, the Shaggy-Stalked Bolete

Noting what decorations a bolete has on its stem can be very helpful in identifying that bolete. One type of decoration you may find on a bolete’s stipe is reticulation.  Reticulation is a net-like pattern of ridges that extend partially or all the way down the stipe.  These ridges are actually an extension of the pore surface, much like decurrent gills in agarics.  The reticulum does produce spores, but is not as efficient at discharging spores because it is oriented parallel to the ground.  Heimioporus betula is hands-down the best example of reticulation in any bolote.