Identification: What are these Big Ugly Boletes ?

Discussion in 'Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds' started by fish dr, Nov 14, 2008.

  1. fish dr

    fish dr Active Member

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    These were found today on a residential lawn in Victoria, BC Canada.

    http://picasaweb.google.ca/jeffhutjens/BigUglyBoletes#

    None of them was in any way attached to the ground. They were lying there on their sides, about half way between a deciduous tree and a conifer. Part of the gills of one were missing. It is not even certain they grew there, as there were not obvious holes from which they were picked. Though they don't look fresh, they have had little attention from maggots, and our weather has not been so cold that that would explain the scarcity of maggots.

    The big one, which seemed to be a bit older, had a few more maggot trails, and those were big maggots. It seems that maggots often make their way up the stem and emerge form the gills when mature, rather than eating their way into the ground. Usually, I have found that if there are just a few maggots they are in the base of the stem. Maybe whenever they were picked the maggots stopped entering in this way

    Seem to have no particular flavour when raw, but the texture and weight were appealing. If edible, one would hope that cooking improves them.

    When I asked to find some blue-staining mushrooms, this was not what I had in mind.

    Help me out on the ID please.

    On a side note...

    Local Trichloma magnivelare "matsutake" pine mushrooms just hit a local store. Perfect buttons, and only $27.99 a pound. Market must be bad in Japan or something. Bought $2 worth to try a tissue culture. They smell good but not "very distinctive", something I had been led to expect. I heard spicy, cinnamonny.+
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2008
  2. Frog

    Frog Generous Contributor Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Well certainly a bolete as you said (no gills just tubes), and the bruising colours are excellent!
    Some of the photos are clearer than others, and although the tubes don't look red/orange in the clear photos, you mention that this is the unbruised colour of the tubes.

    I was taught to avoid eating boletes with red tubes in the PNW, as some of them are poisonous. And since we don't run into many red tubed ones in this region, there's not much point. Amongst the rest, again in this region, you want to avoid the ones that taste bitter.

    I'm sorry I can't come up with an ID for this, the combination of the colour and texture of the top of the cap, the blue staining, the size, and the red stem base does not match a bolete in my repertoire. But hey this is a big genus. If no one else comes up with an answer, you could try running these strong characters through Matchmaker, or your local club SVIMS may have a copy of Boletes of NA, a huge tome of all the boletes you could desire to see!

    cheers,
    frog
     
  3. fish dr

    fish dr Active Member

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    Thanks for trying Frog,

    I tried to get a spore print, but no luck.

    I may try this on the SVIMS listserv. I joined SVIMS last meeting. They're a really good bunch over there.
     
  4. Stilbella

    Stilbella Active Member

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    I checked Matchmaker, Frog. No Boletus there, only gilled fungi.

    At first, I was thinking it could be a Leccinum, because of the cap colour and the blue bruising. But the stipe doesn't fit, and the tubes are wrong, unless they've just discoloured with age. I was thinking L. Aurantiacum or L. Vulpinum. Because of the location between the deciduous and the coniferous trees, it *could* have been either one.

    But again, it doesn't have that scabrous stipe. Plus, it seems to be reddish at the bottom, which I don't recognize. So I'm stumped.
     
  5. Frog

    Frog Generous Contributor Forums Moderator 10 Years

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  6. Stilbella

    Stilbella Active Member

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    Thanks Frog. We have it around here somewhere, but I've been too lazy to look for it. The version I've been using was included in the 'Fifth Kingdon" cd, by Bryce Kendrick. :P

    Now then, I have been doing a little work on this thing because it's Saturday and I have some time and I am a geek. I am inclined to think it may be a Suillis tomentosus. Everything seems to fit: the reddish stipe, the orange-y cap and pores, the bluing...it can be bald when old, too.

    Now, I may be way off base, but it's the best ID I can come up with for an old ooshy mushroom.
     
  7. Frog

    Frog Generous Contributor Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Sounds good Stilbella - but does S. tomentosus possess the usual Suillus stem characteristics? If so, I don't really see that, except *maybe* in photo 2 and 8 ... a bare suggestion of a zone before the top of stem: What you think? I don't see glandular dots I know but yes old specimen so perhaps gone already.
     
  8. fish dr

    fish dr Active Member

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    Thanks for all your work Stilbella,

    I find lots of slippery jacks (Tomentosus)(Ugh!)

    I find that they are much smaller, spongy, light in weight, with slippery caps, and intense bright yellow inside. I have never noticed one to stain blue. So I'm sure these are not they.

    I had a feeling this would be a very difficult ID...

    Jeff
     

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