B. pulchrotinctus

Boletus L.

Recent molecular studies have shown that Boletus in its current circumscription is likely an artificial grouping and it is possible that it will be split at some point into smaller genera. Note that Boletus impolitus and Boletus depilatus for practical reasons are retained here, although there is strong evidence that they are closely related to Xerocomus subtomentosus and its allies.

Fruitbody large to medium sized, boletoid, without veil and ring. Stipe solid, with surface usually covered with granules or network. Flesh variously coloured, changing or not when exposed to air. Tubes easily separable from each other, not tearing apart. Pores usually small and rounded.

Boletus pulchrotinctus Alessio

Description
Cap up to 20 cm, at first hemispherical, then convex to flat-convex, almost white, silvery grey, grey to greyish ochraceous or pale ochraceous, at the margin always with well pronounced pale pink to pink tint, which gradually spreads towards the cap center, sometimes almost entirely pink, dry, smooth, not blueing when bruised. Stipe clavate, sometimes bulbously swollen at the base; cream, lemon yellow to bright yellow in the upper part, downwards gradually becoming pink, sometimes yellow or cream throughout, with well developed fine, pink network, blueing when bruised. Tubes at first lemon yellow, then yellow with somewhat olivaceous tint, blueing when damaged. Pores variable, usually yellow, often changing to orange or orange red with age, sometimes orange to orange red in young fruitbodies and then becoming paler with age, blueing when bruised. Flesh pale lemon yellow in young fruitbodies, later yellowish to whitish in the cap and the stipe, under the cap cuticle pink, blueing mostly in the cap when exposed to air. Smell not distinctive. Taste slightly acid. Spores 12–15 × 4.5–6 μm, ratio 2.2–2.7. Pileipellis (the cap cuticle) trichodermium of interwoven septate hyphae of cylindrical, finely incrusted cells. Chemical reactions: hyphae of the flesh in the stipe base inamyloid with Melzer’s solution.

Habitat. Warm broadleaf forests on calcareous soils, mycorrhizal with oaks (Quercus).

Distribution. Not entirely understood, should be looked for. Southern species, known from Greece, Italy, France, Macedonia, Slovenia, Spain (incl. Balearic Islands). For a long time considered to be strictly Mediterranean species, but recently recorded further north from Crimean Peninsula in Ukrane. To the east its range reaches as far as Israel, where it has been confused in the past with Boletus fechtneri, judging from illustrations published by Binyamini (1975) and also by recent findings.

Similarity. Similar and sometimes probably might be confused with Boletus satanas, the latter distinguished on the account of its differently coloured fruitbodies.

Note. The variability of the colour of the pores is remarkable feature in this species. Although individual fruitbodies with unusual colour are found throughout the European Luridi (e. g. Boletus satanas, B. rhodopurpureus), it is generally quite uncommon. Contrary, in B. pulchrotinctus, fruitbodies with orange coloured pores are often seen although they are normaly yellow.

Photographs

Important literature

Alessio, C.L. 1985. Boletus Dill. ex L. (sensu lato). – In: Fungi Europaei. Vol. 2. Pp. 1–705. Libreria editrice Biella Giovanna, Saronno.

Alessio, C.L. 1989. Boletus pseudofechtneri nom. nud. oppure, B. pulchrotinctus Alessio? – Micologia Italiana 18: 112.

Biketova, A. Yu., Kosakyan, A., Wasser, S.P. & Nevo, E. New, noteworthy, and rare species of the genus Boletus in Israel. – Plant Biosystems [in press]

Binyamini, N. 1975. [Fleshy fungi of Israel]. ha-Ḳibuts ha-meʼuḥad, Tel Aviv. [In Hebrew]

Cetto, B. 1983. I Funghi dal Vero. Arti Grafiche Saturnia, Trento.

Estadès, A. & Lannoy, G. 2004. Les bolets européens. – Bulletin Mycologique et Botanique Dauphiné-Savoie 44(3): 3–79.

Galli, R. 1998. I Boleti. Atlante pratico-monographico per la determinazione dei boleti. Edinatura, Milano.

Karadelev, M., Rusevska, K. & Spasikova, S. 2006. Ecology and distribution of the genus Boletus (Boletaceae) in the Republic of Macedonia. – Mycologia Montenegrina 9: 7–23.

Lambert, M. 1987. Un nouveau Bolet pour les Alpes Francaises du Nord. – Boletus pulchrotinctus C.L. Alessio 1985. – Bulletin Mycologique et Botanique Dauphiné-Savoie 106: 19.

Lannoy, G. & Estadès, A. 2001. Les Bolets. Flore mycologique d’Europe. Documents Mycologiques Mémoire Hors série no. 6. Pp. 1–163. Association d’Écologie et de Mycologie, Lille.

Muñoz, J.A. 2005. Boletus s. l. – In: Fungi Europaei. Vol. 1. Pp. 1–951. Edizioni Candusso, Alassio.

Sarkina, I.S. 2008. [Mycobiota of the protected areas of the Crimean Peninsula: macromycetes]. – In: Vinogradova, K.L. & al. [eds]. [Fundamental and practical problems of the botany in the beggining of the 21^st century. Part 2]. Pp. 159–162. Karelian Scienfic Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk. [In Russian]

Šutara, J., Mikšík, M. & Janda, V. 2009. Hřibovité houby. Čeled’ Boletaceae a rody Gyrodon, Gyroporus, Boletinus a Suillus. Academia, Praha.

Ubaldi, D. 1986. Boletus cicognani nuova specie della sezione Appendiculati. – Archivo Botanico e Biogeografico Italiano 61: 44–50.

Κωνσταντινίδης, Γ. 2009. Μανιτάρια, φωτογραφικός οδηγός μανιταροσυλλέκτη. Αυτοέκδοση,  Αθήνα. [Konstantinidis, G. 2009. Mushrooms, a photographic guide for collectors.  Published by the author, Athens.]