Boletus legaliae

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Mushrooms

By Roger Phillips

Published 2006

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Boletus legaliae Pilát syn. B. splendidus C. Martin (illustrated 70% life size) Cap 5–14cm across; initially whitish or milky coffee-coloured then grey-olivaceous with a flush of red, becoming more intense with age, particularly at the margin, bruising blue only after rough handling. Stem 80–160×20–40mm; orange above the red central zone, lower half lemon-yellow or coral, with an orange net at apex which is gradually lost towards the base, bruising blue. Flesh white to pale lemon, discolouring blue-green and red in the base of the stem when cut; taste unpleasant, smell spicy. Tubes lemon-chrome, bruising blue. Pores small, orange-red, becoming darker red with age, lighter at margin. Spores 10.5–12.5×4.5–5¼, subfusiform. Spore print olivaceous walnut-brown. Habitat with oaks; summer. Uncommon. Poisonous. Note the name B. satanoides, which I used in my first book, is so vaguely defined that most mycologists now reject it entirely.