Satan’s or Devil’s Bolete Boletus satanas Lenz (illustrated 25% life size) Cap 8–25cm across; almost white, flushed buff or sepia, frequently with faint red flush at margin, becoming flushed ochre with age, bruising brown with handling; slightly downy then smooth with minute cracks, particularly at centre. Stem 60–90×50–110mm, often markedly swollen at base; saffron-orange to lemon-chrome at apex, red with ochre flush at base, covered with red net. Flesh pale straw-coloured to saffron in cap, white or pale lemon in stem, gradually pale sky-blue on cutting, with rusty patches in stem, dirty buff fading to greenish-blue or blotched with red at stem base; taste and smell unpleasant. Tubes yellowish-green then dark olivaceous, blue on cutting. Pores small, round; blood-red, orange towards margin, finally tinged orange, bruising greenish. Spores 11–14×4.5–6.5¼, subfusiform. Spore print olivaceous walnut-brown. Habitat with broad-leaved trees, especially beech and oak, usually on calcareous soil; summer. Rare on Red Data List. Poisonous possibly deadly.
