Which Boletus?

[Tiggrx]

Can anyone help ID this Boletus please? I found it at How Hill, Norfolk on a roadside verge.
It smelt like mushroom soup and a broken/bruised piece did not change colour at all (I checked again after a about an hour and still no change). Stupidly I didn't look at what tree it was growing under, but from memory most of the trees in the area were oak, birch and beech.




Hope this is enough to go on...
Thanks
Aaron

[flaxton]

Hi Aaron
I think you have found Boletus impolitus. It looks right but the only fly in the ointment is the smell. Impolitus (the Iodine Bolete) should have an antiseptic smell especially in the base of the stipe It should also have a brighter yellow line across the top of the tubes (and down the edge of the stipe) when cut in half and I think yours shows a little of that.

Mal

[shroomboy]

HI Aaron,

It is very difficult to tell from your pics which Bolete you have here. The off putting thing for me with regard to B. impolitus is the aereolate, rather velvety looking cap in one of the pics. This would suggest a young, robust form of X. subtomentosus. As Mal points out, if it is B. impolitus then it should have a rather medicinal smell akin to Iodine especially at the base when cut, also B. impolitus often has red-brown dots all over the stem which strengthen toward base, the apex remains yellow. If you get the chance, try taking some more pics of young and old specimens showing cap, pores and stem, cut one in half if possible to show the flesh in profile.

Andy

[Tiggrx]

Thanks for the comments guys - I suspected it might be difficult/impossible to ID from the pic. Unfortunately I not going to be going that way again any time soon.

As to the smell, it was a piece of cap that I smelt, so it may well have smelled differently at the base.

[Leif]

How big was it? Boletus impolitus is usually quite robust and 6" across is not unusual. It tends to have a broad stem. Boletus subtomentosus is somewhat smaller and more graceful.

However, when it comes to putting a name to it, I can be no more use than a chocolate teapot.

[flaxton]

Aaron
While we all agree we cannot give definitive ID from a photo compare the cap of yours with this


Which was definitely impolitus

Mal

[Leif]

Originally Posted by flaxton

Aaron
While we all agree we cannot give definitive ID from a photo compare the cap of yours with this


Which was definitely impolitus

Mal

If you were selling a used car, I would have bought it.