Ruby bolete

Description:

This mushroom has a cap that is scarlet to raspberry red when young, with a dry velvety texture. The extreme margin often has a pale yellow or white band around it, and it discolours darker, and dirtier with age. It is a small bolete, with the cap being rarely over 6 centimetres in diameter. The pores are small; pale yellow, and bruise slowly. Sometimes tapering, the stem is slender and long, and may reach 7.5 cm. It is lemon yellow at the apex, but red elsewhere, and has a tendency to split or sheer vertically. The flesh is straw-coloured in the cap, and stains slowly blue over the tubes when cut. The flesh of the stem is pale yellow at the apex and yellow further down. At the stem base, the flesh may have a distinct spot of brick-red or orange. The tubes and pores are large and lemon-yellow, and may be greenish tinged when older. The spore print is olive. It smells pleasant, but indistinct, and is said to taste slightly soapy.

Habitat:

Boletus rubellus is an ectomycorrhizal fungus; it is found growing on rich soil beneath trees, notably beech and oak - frequently in parks. Uncommon to rare in Southern England. It also appears in Europe, and the Eastern United States.

Notes:

Spotted near a French oak tree in Twello, Holland.