Suede Bolete

Boletus subtomentosus

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Mushrooms

By Roger Phillips

Published 2006

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Suede Bolete Boletus subtomentosus L. syn. Xercomus subtomentosus (L.) Quél. syn. B. lanatus Rostk. (illustrated 30% life size) Cap 4–10cm across; fulvous to pale sepia, darkening where rubbed or bruised, surface immediately yellowish- or bluish-green when treated with ammonia solution, then fading; very velvety. Stem up to 80×10–16mm; pale at apex, yellow towards middle with a wide, coarse, irregular network of dark brick-coloured veins, paler again towards the base. Flesh white in cap with a date-brown line beneath the cuticle, rust above tubes, flushed lemon-yellow in base of stem, bluing hardly or not at all on cutting; taste and smell not distinctive. Tubes lemon-chrome, bluing on exposure to air. Pores large, angular, colouring similar to tubes, bruising blue on handling, then fading. Spores 9–11.5×3.5–4.5¼, subfusiform-elliptical. Spore print olivaceous walnut-brown. Habitat in broad-leaved and mixed woods, particularly with birch; autumn. Common. Unknown edibility.