Deep rooting boletus (Caloboletus radicans) photo and description

Deep-rooted boletus (Caloboletus radicans)

Systematics:
  • Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
  • Order: Boletales
  • Family: Boletaceae
  • Genus: Caloboletus (Kalobolet)
  • Species: Caloboletus radicans (Deep-rooted boletus)
    Other names for the mushroom:

  • Rooted boletus
  • Boletus stocky
  • Boletus whitish
  • Rooting boletus

Other names:

  • Boletus stocky

  • Deep-rooted fly

  • Boletus whitish

  • Boletus albidus

  • Boletus radicans

  • Boletus bitter spongy

  • Rooting boletus

  • Bitter spongy boletus

Deep-rooted boletus (Boletus radicans)

Photo by: I. Assyova

External description

The cap is 6-20 cm in diameter, occasionally reaches 30 cm, in young mushrooms it is hemispherical, then convex or cushion-shaped, the edges are initially bent, in mature specimens they are straightened, wavy. The skin is dry, smooth, whitish with gray, light fawn, sometimes with a greenish tinge, turns blue when pressed.

The hymenophore  at the leg is depressed, the tubules are lemon-yellow, then olive-yellow, turn blue on the cut. The pores are small, rounded, lemon-yellow, turn blue when pressed.

Spore powder olive brown, spores 12-16 * 4.5-6 microns in size.

Leg 5-8 cm high, occasionally up to 12 cm, 3-5 cm in diameter, tuberous-swollen, at maturity cylindrical with a tuberous base. The color is lemon yellow at the top, often with brown-olive or bluish-green spots at the base. The upper part is covered with an uneven mesh. Turns blue in the cut, at the base it acquires an ocher or reddish tint

The pulp is dense, whitish with a blue tint under the tubes, turns blue in the cut. The smell is pleasant, the taste is bitter.

Spread

The deeply rooted boletus is widespread in Europe, North America, North Africa, although it is not common everywhere. A heat-loving species, prefers deciduous forests, although it is found in mixed forests, it often forms mycorrhiza with oak and birch. It is rare, from summer to autumn.

Similarity

Deeply rooted boletus can be confused with the satanic mushroom (Boletus satanas), which has a similar cap color, but differs from it in yellow tubes and a bitter taste; with a beautiful pain (Boletus calopus) with a reddish leg in the lower half and an unpleasant odor.

Assessment

Deep-rooted boletus Inedible due to bitter taste, but not considered poisonous. In Pelle Jansen's good reference book, All About Mushrooms, it is erroneously listed as edible, but the bitterness does not disappear during cooking.