more boletus help, any takers?

[alge]

I found these yesterday growing on the edge of a beech stand up on a boundary bank consisting of flint, chalk and clay.



I've found edulis, luridus and luridiformis year on year close by but never seen these handsome ones before.

also found these within a mile of the others in between a chestnut copse and beech stand next to some really old hornbeam crowns.



sorry about the image quality and they are well past being good specimens but you can still make out the scales on the cap and the pores for gills so could this be flocopus? i can only find one reference in my books

as always i will be grateful for any help

alge

[mollisia]

Hello,
the first picture shows definitely Boletus erythropus - oooops, luridiformis of course .
The second one ist Strobilomyces strobilaceus - oooops, floccopus I meant

Judging from the fungi you find there, the ground is quite mixed. Either it is soemwhat acid with an influence of chalk by roads etc. or it is basic (chalk ...) and the surface is influenced by acid from rain or leaves that are rodding and turn the soil surface towards acid (Quercus leaves, esp. Q. rubra, Picea- and Larix needle e.g.)

best regards,
Andreas

[alge]

Andreas, thanks for the help, I've struggled with this group for a while now. here is an image which i understand to be luridis and is found close to the ones i found yesterday but is much darker on the cap and has an almost velvet feel to it. so are they the same just a little different looking or is one not luridis??? perplexing



as to your query about soil acidity i can tell you this much. there is chalk to about 100mtrs depth but the wood in its current form is around 1000 years old various earthworks and boundary lines go back up to 2000 years prior. so thats a lot of rotted leaf litter mixed with heavy london clay which sits on top of the chalk. as to acid rain???? i thought that was one of the uk's best exports . oops but seriously this is an area that tends to get north easterly prevailing winds so we may be liable to some blowback off the north sea, all speculation on my part. there are some gravel deposits around the area and spruce plantations within the wood which may effect the soil as you have suggested.
I'm chuffed to bits that i probably found floccopus as thats a new one to me.

alex

[mollisia]

Hello Alex,

both of the red pored bolets that you have shown are Boletus luridiformis-erythropus. The first one with a somewhat unusual, but not rarely occuring yellowish brown, the 2nd picture with the very typical dark brown cap.

Here in Germany at least Boletus erythropus is an indicator for acidity in the soil. Strobilomyces strobilaceus also clearly prefers acid soil here, but sometimes also occures on neutral or even basic ground. In my opinion this species also gives a hint that the top layer of the soil is acidic even when the grown ground is pure chalk.

best regards,
Andreas

[alge]

We do have some huge rhododendron in our woods all over the area, which would be more evidence of localised acidity in the soil. monkey orchids grow near by on a chalk, so i guess the point is i live in a part of the country where the geology swings from one extreme to another from valley to valley. life at the end of the tip of the last ice age on glacial melt formed land.

i shall update my personal file of luridiformis

thanks again for your help andreas

alex

[flaxton]

Alex

The best way to tell the difference between B luridus and B luridiformis is that the first has a network on the stipe whereas the latter has a smooth or punctate (little dots).

Mal

[alge]

Hi flaxton/mal thanks I'm finding lots of both it would appear. sometimes the reticulated stem is obvious and sometimes not damn slugs etc. i"m pretty happy with formis having what i describe as an air brushed spray pattern as you state and also (just my experience) without fail a bulbus stem, the problem i'm more often than not encountering is colour variation of cap influencing my investigation and my reliance on my text examples which are a bit general domestic market books. Which ultimately points to me not using enough recognition indicators, sloppy non academic lack of dicipline blah blah. lol.

I would appreciate it if you look out for some of my posts in the future and i will try to do a better analysis of my examples and try to seek confirmation rather than be lazy and just ask.

all the best alex

[flaxton]

Alex
Don't be too hard on yourself. If you are willing to make the effort to DIY then great, another convert but there are many out there who just want to know the identity of the "pretty mushroom" I saw and photographed today. This site tries to cater for both categories without being too judgmental.

Mal