Boletus pseudoregius

Photo source: Sergji Kozlan

Description

Boletus pseudoregius is a pored mushroom in the family Boletaceae. It is a rare fungus that grows under broad-leaved trees, especially beech and chestnut. It has edibility very similar to the most known edible bolete. It can be prepared and stored in the same way as these but, it would be better not to collect it and leave it undisturbed in its habitat.

Some older sources list this species under the name Boletus speciosus Frost. The later is a different fungus, found in North America. Other authorities prefer to use the name Boletus fuscoroseus Smotl.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   Up to 20 cm, at first hemispherical, the convex to flat-convex, dull pink, reddish-brown, brownish or ochraceous with a pinkish tint, dry, sometimes cracked, not blueing when bruised.

2. Stem

   Cylindrical to club-shaped, sometimes tapering towards the base, in the upper parts yellow or bright yellow, in the lower 1/2 – 1/3 pale pink, pink or sometimes pinkish brown, at least in the upper half with well developed concolorous with the base or reddish network, stem surface blueing when bruised. Flesh yellowish-white or whitish in the cap, lemon yellow in the stem, pale pink to dirty pink at the stem base, bluing predominantly above the tubes when exposed to air.

3. Tubes

   Initially lemon yellow, then yellow, finally yellow with olivaceous tint, blueing when exposed to air.

4. Pores

   Concolorous, blueing when bruised. The smell of young fruitbodies indistinctive later smells of chemicals or smoked meat.

5. Taste

   Not distinctive.

6. Spores

   10–14.5 × 4–5.5 μm, ratio 2.2–3.2. Pileipellis (the cap cuticle) trichodermium of interwoven septate hyphae of cylindrical incrusted cells.

7. Chemical reactions

   Hyphae of the flesh in the stipe base inamyloid with Melzer’s solution.

8. Habitat

   Broadleaf forests, mycorrhizal with oaks (Quercus), probably also with beech (Fagus) or sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa).

9. Distribution

   Not yet precisely known. In Europe not seen in the north and is more common in the south. Recorded from Austria, Belgium, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Russia (Caucasus), Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and UK.

Look-Alikes

1. Boletus regius

   Is somewhat similar, but it has a pink to a pinkish-red cap, yellow unchanging flesh, and spores of different sizes.

2. Boletus kluzakii

   Has a similarly colored fruitbodies but features a bitter taste.

Synonyms

1. Boletus fuscoroseus Smotl. (1912)

2. Boletus regius Hubert

3. Butyriboletus pseudoregius (Heinr. Huber) D. Arora & J.L. Frank (2014)