Gyroporus blue (Gyroporus cyanescens)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Boletales
- Family: Gyroporaceae (Gyropore)
- Genus: Gyroporus (Gyroporus)
- Species: Gyroporus cyanescens (Gyroporus blue)
- Other names for the mushroom:
- Blue boletus
- Bruise
Synonyms:
Bruise
Blue boletus
- Boletus cyanescens
- Boletus constrictus
- Leccinum constrictum
- Suillus cyanescens
- Suillus cyanescens
- Leucoconius cyanescens
The popular name "Bruise" accurately conveys the behavior of the fungus at the slightest damage to tissues, whether it be a cut, break or just a touch: it turns blue. The color change occurs quickly and very clearly, which makes it possible to almost accurately distinguish Blue Gyroporus from other boletus.
Description
Hat : 4-12 cm, sometimes up to 15 cm in diameter. Convex at first, then widely convex or sometimes almost flat in age. Dry, coarsely rough or sometimes dull-scaly, covered with fine hairs. Straw or pale brownish, brownish yellow. It turns blue when touched.
Hymenophore : tubular. The surface of the pores (tubes): from white to yellowish, straw-colored, instantly turns blue when pressed. Contains 1-3 round pores per 1 mm. Tubes up to 18 mm deep.
Leg : 4-12 cm long, 1-3 cm thick. More or less smooth or with a slight thickening in the middle part, it can taper towards the very bottom. In young specimens, it is completed, cavities form in the leg with age, in adults it is practically hollow. The leg is visually divided into two parts: at the top, directly under the cap, it is light and smooth. Below - in the color of the cap, matte, slightly pubescent. There is no ring, however, the upper and lower parts of the cap are separated so sharply that you involuntarily look for where the ring is.
Flesh : white to pale yellow in color, brittle, brittle. It turns blue very quickly when cut.
Smell and taste : weak mushroom, sometimes a pleasant, nutty taste is noted.
Chemical reactions : ammonia negative or pale orange on the surface of the cap, negative to brownish on the flesh. KOH negative to orange on the surface of the cap, negative to brownish on the flesh. Iron salts from olive to almost black on the pulp.
Spore powder imprint : pale yellow.
Microscopic features : Spores of variable size, but mostly 8-11 x 4-5 µm (however, often as small as 6 x 3 µm and as large as 14 x 6.5 µm). Smooth, flowing, ellipsoidal. Yellowish in KOH.
Edibility
Gyroporus blue is suitable for eating. It is used dried, pickled and boiled. The data on taste are contradictory: someone thinks that it is not inferior to porcini mushroom, someone notes "very mediocre" taste.
Ecology
Various sources mention mycorrhiza with deciduous species, and different ones, such as birch, chestnut, oak. There is even an assumption about mycorrhiza with conifers, with pine. But, as noted by Singer (1945), Blue Gyroporus grows "in forests and even in meadows" and "apparently does not regularly form mycorrhiza, at least no preference for any forest tree has been proven, since sometimes fruit bodies are formed far enough from any tree. "
Grows alone, scattered or in small groups, usually in sandy soil, especially in soil with destroyed structure (roadways, shoulders, parks, etc.)
Season and distribution
Summer and autumn. The mushroom is quite widespread in America, Europe, Russia.
It is considered a rare species. Blue gyroporus is listed in the Red Book of Russia.Notes
According to some authors, Gyroporus cyanescens var. violaceotinctus differs from var. cyanescens: The flesh turns blue instantly to a rich violet-blue, without going through the greenish-yellow stage. According to Bessette, Roody & Bessette (2000), a variety harvested in North Carolina does not bruise at all.
Gyroporus blue contains the pigment boletol, it is an antibiotic. It was isolated not only from the bruise, but also from some species of oak trees.
In the article and in the gallery, photos from the questions in recognition were used: Gumenyuk Vitaly and others