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BIODIVERSITY REFERENCE
Boletus luridiformis Rostk.
(= 'B. erythropus' (misapplied name))
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Order: BoletalesBritish distribution: Widespread, generally common.
World distribution: Europe. Elsewhere?
Boletus luridiformis, Chatelherault, Lanarkshire, 1981
A typical boletoid fungus, toadstool-shaped but with tubes instead of gills, the basidiospores being released from the inside surfaces of the tubes. Consequently the hymenium is well protected but with a large surface area.Mycorrhizal with forest trees, coniferous as well as deciduous (perhaps also with small shrubs as it is also reported from pastures and moorland). Not at all host specific, but nevertheless a particularly characteristic species of western Scottish oakwoods.
Characteristic of this species is the red stem that gives it its better known but misapplied name, B. erythropus (erythro-pus - "red-foot"). The colour can be seen to be dense spotting, as distinct from the red network on the stems of the related B. luridus. The pores (openings of the tubes) are also red, bruising dark blue if touched. Note also the flesh colour, yellow at first but rapidly turning dark blue on cutting, then paling to a leaden colour. The species is described and illustrated in many popular guides.
Boletus luridiformis, material from Blackcraig, Perthshire, 1982
© A.J. Silverside
e-mail: alan.silverside@uws.ac.uk
Page first hosted at www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/bioref/, September 1998 (as Boletus erythropus); transferred to lastdragon.org with minor edits, October 2010
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