Minley Wood Caps It

[cybershot]

I do have a dried specimen Mal and it's got your name on it if you let me have an address via PM for posting.

David

[cybershot]

Red capped Boletes are popping up all around this vicinity and I couldn't resist posting this young specimen found yesterday in Minley Wood in the open grass adjacent to a large Oak. It was strikingly red, 3cm, and show signs of faint blueing. Last night's further research, at a purely macroscopic level using Mushroom Expert .com, FOS and Black's, indicates how difficult, even microscopically, it is to separate this complex of species from each other (rubellus, campestris, fraternus, etc) so I am loathe to hazard any more guesses as to whether it's Boletus (xerocomus) rubellus or not....... but theoretically I'd like to think it is

[ManwithNoname]

Originally Posted by cybershot

... how difficult, even microscopically, it is to separate this complex of species from each other (rubellus, campestris, fraternus, etc)

I think Boletus campestris and Boletus fraternus must be species found in the US but your point is still valid. There are other British species, such as Boletus ripariellus, or others that can atypically have red caps, that you would need to rule out.

In the field you can cut the stem in half and look for the tell-tale signs of orange dots in the base of the stem, which are only present in Boletus rubellus and Boletus declivitatum. But this character can disappear in older decaying specimens.