Red fungus for ID

rich59

Maker
Aug 28, 2005
2,217
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London
Came across this interesting fungus in my local park - growing in a mixed shrubbery. Any thoughts on an ID and eating properties? I have no intention of eating this one unless I can very positively identify it as it has a red pores and stem.

It is about 10 cm across. The affect of bruising is dramatic and almost instantaneous - going a strong blue within a second or 2 of being bruised.

I twisted off the cap and left it over night on a plate to get a look at the spores. Nothing!

It smells pleasantly mushroomy.

The blue on the cap is in reality more a bluey gray and feels slightly velvety and might be some algal growth? The rest of the cap is beige (with a pink flush) and feels smooth.

The stem towards the top seems covered with fairly regularly spaced tiny dark red dots.

A tongue test showed it also tasted mushroomy only.

REDBOL.jpg


REDBOL2.jpg
 

eraaij

Settler
Feb 18, 2004
557
61
Arnhem
I think this is what we call "Heksenboleet" in the netherlands - Boletus erythropus. I would NOT recommend eating it. Easily confused with Satans boletus which is poisonous. (white cap)
 

spamel

Banned
Feb 15, 2005
6,833
21
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Silkstone, Blighty!
The gaudy colouring would suggest satans bolete, but the only way to know for sure is to use a decent field guide or to tap into the brain of a mushroom expert like the Mushroom Lady. As far as I know, none of the boletes will actually kill you, but some will make you wish you were dead!
 

rg1984

Member
Feb 24, 2007
26
0
40
Lockerbie
It could be scarletina Bolete otherwise known as Lurid Bolete. When cut down the centre it will turn a blue colour, which in time fades slightly and with cooking fade altogether. One of the main features is to check the cap. If it feels almost like velvet the this could be your mushroom. It is edible however I think you have to be pretty brave to eat any mushroom with a red tinge as there are others you can easily confuse it with!

I dont think it is Devils bolete as it doesnt seem big enough, it is relatively rare, and the cap seems different.

Again ... I am by no means a fungi expert. Its mearly an interest and I only eat what I myself can identify!!
 

spamel

Banned
Feb 15, 2005
6,833
21
48
Silkstone, Blighty!
That is the main thing to remember, if you cannot 100% positiively ID it, chuck it away, and make sure you don't put it in with other mushrooms you are gonna eat as the spores could be knocked out and make you ill/dead aswell!

Love the avatar, I haven't seen a Fly Agaric yet this year.
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I think this is what we call "Heksenboleet" in the netherlands - Boletus erythropus. I would NOT recommend eating it. Easily confused with Satans boletus which is poisonous. (white cap)

Thats what I would say, Because;
the sub-sect satanas does not blue very fast or very strongly.
rich says there is red dots not a red net pattern which put it in the luridi sect not satanas.
The smell and the taste also put ID away from satanas as satanas have a slightly astofeoda smell, and isn't pleasant, the taste isn't suppose to be pleasant either.

But I think the cap is a bit pale for erythropus, but I am sure it is closely related to that and the other lurid boletes. Personally I would eat it, BUT i would eat a small amount first, because evan a B. erythropus can make some people a little ill if it isn't properly cooked.

Maybe boletus rhodopurpureus??? It has that pinky tinge to the cap.
 

rich59

Maker
Aug 28, 2005
2,217
25
65
London
Well, it has gone over now. Looking at the original photo close up the dots on the upper part of the stem seem joined by a reticular pattern. Anyway it is a real beauty, and I am really glad I found it.
 

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