Western Painted Suillus

Description:

Suillus lakei, commonly known as the matte Jack, Lake's bolete, or the western painted Suillus, is a species of fungus in the Suillaceae family. It is characterized by the distinctive reddish-brown tufted fibers or small scales on the cap, and the presence of a woolly veil on the stem. The caps can reach diameters of up to 15 cm (5.9 in), while the stems are between 6 to 12 cm (2.4 to 4.7 in) long and usually 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) thick. On the underside of the cap is a layer of spongy yellow to yellow-brown angular pores; these pores are covered with a whitish partial veil when young. A mycorrhizal fungus, S. lakei grows in association with Douglas fir, and can be found where this tree occurs. It is native to northwestern North America, but has been introduced to Europe, South America, and New Zealand. The mushroom is edible, but opinions vary considerably as to its quality.

Habitat:

Suillus lakei is indigenous to the Rocky Mountains and western parts of North America. Its range extends south into Mexico.[20] Fruit bodies grow solitarily or in groups on the ground in young conifer stands or grassy parkland. Fruiting occurs in the late summer and autumn. Suillus lakei forms ectomycorrhizae with Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and its distribution coincides with this tree. It is one of the most common bolete species found in northwestern Montana and Idaho.[21] In a study of host specificity in pure culture in the laboratory, S. lakei failed to form healthy ectomycorrhizas with Eucalyptus roots—the hyphae were covered in mucilage-like deposits and appeared to be collapsed.[22] It has also been noted to prefer poor, exposed soil such as that found on road banks and campgrounds.[10] It can often be found with the mushroom Gomphidius subroseus, another species that associates with Douglas fir.[18] Both Douglas fir and Suillus lakei are non-native introduced species in Europe. The fungus has been found in several central and south European countries following the intentional introduction of Douglas fir.[23] These include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,[24] Germany, Hungary,[25] Italy,[26] and Slovakia.[27] Suillus lakei has also been reported in the South Island of New Zealand,[28] and South America (Argentina[29] and Chile[30]).

Notes:

American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill originally named the species Boletinus lakei after mycologist E.R. Lake of Oregon Agricultural college (now Oregon State University). Lake collected the type specimen from Corvallis, Oregon, in late November, 1907.[1] Rolf Singer later transferred the species to the genera Ixocomus and Boletinus in 1940 and 1945, respectively.[2][3] In their 1964 monograph on North American Suillus species, Alexander H. Smith and Harry Delbert Thiers transferred the species to Suillus. Simultaneously, they described the S. lakei variety pseudopictus that they said had been misidentified by collectors as Suillus pictus (now called Suillus spraguei) because of its reddish and scaly cap.[4] Singer considered Suillus amabilis to be the same species as S. lakei, but Smith and Thiers later examined the type material of both, and concluded that they were distinct species.[5] Engel and colleagues described a variety in 1996, S. lakei var. landkammeri,[6] based on Boletinus tridentinus subsp. landkammeri described by Czech mycologists Albert Pilát and Mirko Svrček in 1949.[7] The nomenclatural databases Index Fungorum and MycoBank consider this synonymous with S. lakei.[8][9] The mushroom is commonly known as the "western painted Suillus",[10] the "matte Jack",[11] or "Lake's slippery cap".[