Lurid Bolete

Lurid Bolete Boletus luridus Schaeff. (illustrated (d) 40% life size) Cap 6–14cm across; walnut-brown or olive-brown with rusty or bay tints, bruising dark brownish or blue-black; slightly downy at first, becoming smooth and polished. Stem 80–140×10–30mm; yellowish-red with orange-red net, bruising blue. Flesh lemon-yellow in cap, soon becoming greenish-blue to dark blue on cutting, with a persistent red line above tubes, lemon in stem and blackish-red in stem base; taste and smell not distinctive. Tubes yellowish-green, blue on cutting. Pores small, orange-red, more yellow at margin, bruising dark blue. Spores 11–15×4.5–6.5¼, subfusiform to broadly elliptical. Spore print olivaceous walnut-brown. Habitat in broad-leaved woods, particularly with oak or beech and on calcareous soils; summer to autumn. Frequent. Edible when cooked, but has been known to cause gastric upsets.