Painted butter dish (Suillus spraguei)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Boletales
- Family: Suillaceae (Oily)
- Genus: Suillus (Oily)
- Species: Suillus spraguei (Painted butter dish)
Synonyms are:
Sprague's Butter Can
Boletin painted;
Painted boletinus;
Painted lattice;
Boletinus pictus;
Suillus pictus.
Painted butter dish (Suillus spraguei) belongs to the genus Butter dish.
External description of the mushroom
The hat of the painted oil can has a diameter of 3 to 15 (and in exceptional cases - up to 18) cm. Along its edges you can often see the remains of a private bedspread in the form of flakes. The shape of the cap can be wide, conical, or cushion-shaped (in the middle, in this case, there is a noticeable tubercle). There is also a flat-cushion-shaped hat shape for the painted oil can, with the edges wrapped on top. The shade of the cap changes in different weather, becoming brighter and darker with high levels of humidity outside. As it matures and ages, the cap of the mushroom turns yellow, sometimes acquiring a yellow-brown tint. Color change also occurs when the fungus is affected by insects. At a young age, the color of the cap of a painted oil can be red, brick red, burgundy brown, wine red.The surface of the cap is covered with small scales of a gray-brown or brown hue, through the layer of which the surface of the mushroom cap itself is visible.
The length of the leg is 4-12 cm, and the thickness is 1.5-2.5 cm. Sometimes it can thicken up to 5 cm at the base. In the supra-annular zone of the fungus, there are many tubules that descend along the stem and form a mesh. The color of the leg is yellow, and at the base it is rich ocher. The entire surface of the leg is covered with red-brown scales, gradually drying out.
The spore tubes of the fungus are quite large, their width parameters are 2-3 mm. By their structure, they are elongated radially, run down to the leg in uneven lines. The color of the tubes can be rich ocher, bright yellow, ocher-brown, brownish immediately after pressing, pressing on the surface or damage to the structural fibers of the fungus. It is very difficult to separate them from the cap, since the tubes seem to have grown to it.
The pulp of the mushroom is characterized by a yellow color, high density. On the cut, the pulp turns red, often acquires a red-brown tint. The taste and aroma of this type of mushroom is soft, pleasant and mushroom. A private bedspread is characterized by a pinkish-white or white color, it has a small thickness and fluff. In ripe mushrooms, a gray or white ring forms in place of a private bedspread, darkening and gradually drying out.
The spore powder of mushrooms has a clay, olive-brown or yellow-brown hue.
Habitat and period of fruiting
The fruiting period of the Painted Oiler (Suillus spraguei) begins in early summer (June) and ends in September. This type of mushroom prefers to settle on fertile soils, sometimes in the middle of mossy areas. They can often be found in whole mushroom colonies. The commercial species of these mushrooms is widespread in the Far East in Russia and Siberia. It forms mycorrhiza with cedar pine, which also grows in Siberia. Rarely, but still found in Germany and some other European countries. In the northeastern part of North America, this fungus is also widespread, forming in those territories mycorrhiza with Weymouth pine.
Edibility
Painted butter dish (Suillus spraguei) is undoubtedly one of the edible mushrooms, it can be fried, boiled, and mushroom soups made. Suitable for consumption even without prior boiling or frying.