Leccinellum crocipodium
Description
Leccinellum crocipodium is an edible species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. It has yellow pores stain browner. Cap flesh stains red/pinkish-gray. Pitted cap ages from blackish to yellow-brown, & often cracks/fissures w/age. Fruit bodies contain a benzotropolone pigment called crocipodin. Likes oak. The stem is yellowish (sometimes red-brown by base), often swollen in the middle or lower region, and has scabers that darken from brown to blackish.
DNA testing moved this mushroom from Leccinum to the newly erected genus Leccinellum. The powers that be then changed the species name too for good measure.
Common names: Saffron Bolete.
Mushroom Identification
Cap
4 to 9 cm in diameter, the yellowish-brown or reddish-brown cap remains domed, and the cuticle slightly overhangs the edge of the cap.
Initially, the cap is downy and usually deep yellow, but as it matures the surface crazes and turns a duller yellow-brown, sometimes splitting at the margin. The cap flesh is straw-colored, blackening when cut.
Tubes and pores
The densely packed tubes, 0.3 to 0.5mm in dia., are pale yellow and the rounded pores are bright lemon yellow - a helpful identifying feature - becoming darker buff when bruised.
As the fruiting body ages, the pores turn dingy buff.
Stem
The pale, usually yellowish stem is slightly barrel-shaped and typically 2cm in diameter and 6 to 12cm tall; it is often thicker towards the base. The surface is covered in brownish woolly scales in an irregular network.
When bruised, the pale grey stem flesh does not turn blue but rather it reddens slightly and eventually becomes grey; cut or damaged stem flesh also blackens gradually.
Spore Print
Ochre.
Odor and Taste
Not distinctive.
Habitat & Ecological Role
Under oak trees and occasionally hornbeams, with which this bolete is mycorrhizal. The Saffron Bolete is most often found on compacted chalky loam, and is not normally found in the oakwoods of western Britain which are on strongly acid soils.
Look-Alikes
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Has a similarly scaly stem, but the cap does not usually craze and its spore print is ochraceous-brown.
Leccinellum rugosiceps
Hard to distinguish, except that cap is usually lighter, the stem doesn’t sell, the flesh stains a deeper red, & the pores DNS except for the occasional blue-green mark when you find it. Both are good edibles so it doesn’t matter much from a practical point of view.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Ron Pastorino (Ronpast) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 3 - Author: walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 4 - Author: GLJIVARSKO DRUSTVO NIS from Serbia (CC BY-SA 2.0)