Species flashcards

Description

Cap: 3–12 cm across; hemispherical when young, later convex and eventually almost flat. Lemon-yellow, golden-yellow, orange-yellow or orange-brown; glossy and strongly slimy when wet, with an easily removable skin.

Tubes and pores: Tubes pale yellow, later olive-yellow to brownish. Pores small and angular, lemon-yellow, staining rusty brown when bruised.

Stem: 5–10 cm tall and 1–3 cm thick, cylindrical and slightly broader towards the base. Yellow and often finely reticulate above the ring, brownish to reddish-brown and fibrous-scaly below. A well-developed yellowish-white, slimy ring is present.

Flesh: Pale to lemon-yellow, soft and usually unchanging when cut, occasionally browning slightly. Odour and taste mild.

Spores: Spore print ochre to yellowish-brown; spores 8–10 × 2.5–3.5 µm, smooth and ellipsoid.

Occurrence: A mycorrhizal species exclusively associated with larch under natural conditions. It fruits from June to November in larch stands, mixed woodland, along woodland edges and paths, often in groups.

Edibility: Edible. The slimy cap skin is best removed before cooking; young fruit bodies are of the best quality.

Lookalikes: May resemble the slippery jack, which grows with Scots pine instead. Its strict association with larch, golden-yellow cap and slimy ring distinguish the larch bolete.

Note: Earlier names for the species include Suillus elegans.

Species description: First described by Johann Friedrich Klotzsch in 1832; Rolf Singer transferred it to Suillus in 1945.

Taxonomy

1. PhylumBasidiomycota
2. ClassAgaricomycetes
3. OrderBoletales
4. FamilySuillaceae
5. GenusSuillus

• Species: Suillus grevillei
• Original author: Johann Friedrich Klotzsch (1832)
• Current combination: (Klotzsch) Singer (1945)
• English name: Larch bolete
• Ecological status: mycorrhizal
• Edibility: edible