Dear friends, I think this one is Boletus erythropus but since I am still a novice I would like you to see if there are things that I've missed out. Thank you Alok
Paging a Boletologist! I am pleased to own the comprehensive tome Boletes of North America, but even if this was a N.A. mushroom, I am only an egg when it comes to the Bolete tribe, and I'm not sure I could distinguish well enough amongst the red-pored species. Do you have a field guide for your region? cheers, frog
I have not found much information for our area (which is Himachal Pradesh in India)!! Which is the reason why I am starting to do this exercise.. even though I am not truly qualified in this field.. but thanks to internet I use resources online and link with people like you to get further knowledge... The links I used to check were http://www.mushroomexpert.com/boletus_subvelutipes.html http://www.aphotofungi.com/page12.html Thanks for your guidance Frog!! Sincerely Alok
Have you used a field key before? If you haven't, please note that Keys tend to be regional, but you could try taking your specimen through a NA key and if you come up with some likely species, take a look at a write up that indicates its worldwide distribution. Your specimen looks mature, so it might help to also know what a younger specimen looks like, if there are any colour changes with age. This looks like it could be the book you want, though I've not found a description of its contents yet: Mushrooms of India Boletaceae, Vol. I, Studies in Cryptogamic Botany 1996 by T. N. Lakhanpal A university library might have a copy. Or it apparently sells for $30US from indianbooksonbotany.com, or for RS$425 from www.flipkart.com, though I notice the price is considerably higher from US sellers. If you'd like to try taking it through a key, here are some links to NA bolete keys. If you've not used a key before, keep in mind this is not the easiest specimen to try your first key on <grin>, but it is very useful for the amateur field mycologist to become familiar with using keys. - http://www.svims.ca/council/Boletes.htm - http://www.mykoweb.com/boletes/fieldkey.html - There is also one you may have already seen or used on the mushroomexpert.com site. - http://www.uoguelph.ca/~gbarron/Boletes/boletes.htm cheers, frog
Hello Alok, I am not an expert but erythropus is one we eat frequently here, and this resembles it very much. Of course there is variation by location, even within one geographical location the form can vary considerably. Yours has a lighter stem than what we generally see, the cap and tubes appear identical, the reddish striations on the stem we see also. B. erythropus here goes bright blue when broken, then blackens with air, but turns a nice yellowish color with cooking. Attention this mushroom is not edible (will make you sick) raw. We find it particularly choice because the worms and larvae don't care for it much (although boar and slugs love it) so the flesh is usually unblemished, and it remains very firm even with older specimens, staying a bit crunchy when cooked. If I found this in my woods, I'd eat it for dinner... :) HTH, -E
I should admit that my cautious response is primarily due to that fact that in the pacific northwest of N.A., in regards to edibility we avoid red pored boletes. cheers, frog
I have found rogersmushrooms to be useful, here's (I hope) the link to the erythropus page: http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5615~source~gallerychooserresult.asp There are several pictures which demonstrate well the variability. The range however is only listed as America and Europe... Of course frog is right, caution is _always_ a good idea if there is any uncertainty what so ever. -E
Heh.. heh.. I am definitely not going to eat any of the mushrooms I find until I am verry sure of them .. and since these photographs were collected last year I'd have to wait till the right time this year to verify them according to the keys.. and yes thank you for the advice.. Boletes are not the easiest to identify I'd be very careful. This is the foundation study for my research this year and through your suggestions and help.. I hope I'd be able to map the fungi of this wildlife sanctuary (which is soon not going to be a wildlife sanctuary any more due to .... sigh) Thank you Emery and Frog for guiding me through this maze :) and I am almost sure of this identification but will confirm after checking the keys in the next few months...
Sounds like an exciting project Alok! Though sad to hear a protected area is soon not to be. Are you doing a specimen collection for a herbarium as well? If not, I'm hoping you would consider doing this, as herbarium records are so valuable, particularly if the site is going to be damaged/"developed" or what have you. frog
I would not do this for any of the government institutes Frog.. basically all research institutes in India are govt. run and need I say that they are full of political bureaucrats. I would also try and do this for the rest of the species of flora and fauna (although I am not much of a nature photographer) and try to make people more aware of what wealth we have here through school programs and internet. How ever if I ever came across a good institute which would be genuinely interested, I would not mind collaborating and preserving this data for posterity.
