Boletus calopus Fr. Dickfussröhrling, Cèpe beau pied, Bitter Beech Bolete syn. B. pachypus Fr. Cap 5–14cm, smoke-grey or flushed olivaceous, slightly downy at first then smooth, sometimes slightly cracked or scaly at centre with age. Stem 70–90 x 35–40(50)mm, robust, lemon-yellow at apex, elsewhere red although frequently brown at base, covered with a white or straw-coloured network. Flesh pale straw-coloured to pale lemon-yellow becoming whitish immediately on cutting then flushed blue especially in stem apex and over the tubes, sometimes patchily red at base of stem. Taste bitter, smell strong. Tubes dirty sulphur-yellow, bruising bluish-green. Pores similarly coloured, also bruising bluish-green. Spore print olivaceous snuff-brown. Spores subfusiform, 12–16 x 4.5–5.5µ. Habitat in mixed woodland, particularly with beech or oak. Season late summer to autumn. Occasional. Not edible. Distribution, America and Europe. |