Boletus aereus Bull.:Fr. |
The cap is dark brown to black, without any shade of red, becoming marbled (sepia-brown stains on an ochre background) with time, thick, fleshy, massive, hemispherical then convex to more or less flattened. The cap surface is smooth or finely velvety, dry, cracked, giving it a rough structure. The cap margin is often paler. The stem is thick, full, short, egg-shaped at first then club-shaped, and eventually cylindrical, always swollen towards base. It is red-ochre to tawny brown, covered with a large network of thin lines, brown towards the stem's apex, clay-brown towards its middle, more reddish towards base, darkening with age.. The flesh is thick, compact and firm, white even under cap surface, its colour unchanging when exposed to air; its taste is pleasant; the odour is pleasant; The tubes are thin, easily separated, rather long (15-25mm), whitish then greenish-yellow to olive-brown, with their unchanging when bruised. The pores are narrow, rounded, regular, dull yellow then greenish-yellow to olive-brown (same colour as tubes), their colour unchanging when pressed. The spore print is olive brown. It grows in warm areas and southern parts of Europe, in well ventilated places of deciduous woods (edges, clearings, pathsides) but also in bushes, thickets of open woodlands, with common oak most of the time, also with beech, hornbeam, chestnut. The fruiting period takes place from May to November.
Chemical tests : flesh becoming pale red when in contact with ammonia. Distinctive features : brown stem, with dense white then brownish network; pores round and very narrow; very dark brown cap (almost black, without any red shades), velvety; earthy odour Boletus aereus is quite rare and scattered in the forest of Rambouillet, and is infrequent, more generally speaking . | ||
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page updated on 14/01/18