No gills, no pores, no spines. What is it?

[janetmacp]

Found 12 August growing in the ground under birch trees. Very solid & quite heavy and surface very pitted. Diameter 5cms. When first cut in two the interior of the stem was dark brown but this lightened up over 24 hours. When cut for the cross section photo there is a thin line of ochre yellow extending from stem and going round part of the circumference. There is a little rusty red showing on top skin.







In the same wood and again under birch I took this other picture which is vaguely similar and might possibly be the same species but at a more advanced stage? The left hand one looks less solid than that on the right but still no gills showing. Neither cap is quite as pitted as the one found by itself. but it is definitely pits not warts showing. The stem is splitting as seen but the base of stem is 12cms wide. General impression of colour is white and I cannot discern any particular smell.

[cybershot]

I suspect these are Boletes affected by the mould Hypomyces chrysopermus.
David

[Adam Cheeseman]

Not that I know at all, but what about Pisolithus arhizus?

Cheers,

Adam

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Not that I know at all, but what about Pisolithus arhizus?

Cheers,

Adam

C

[janetmacp]

I'm immensely impressed with Cybershot's speedy reply. I spent hours with keys and pictures and believe he may have come up with the answer within minutes of my posting the problem!. I looked carefully at both Boletes and the Earth/Puffball lot but could only get bits of each! We have many different Boletes here and the shape tallies too. Thanks very much for your help.

I did look also at the Pisolithus arhizus but it comes into the "inverted pear" shape which doesn't seem right in this instance. Neither does the colour but I daresay that varies.

[tameblackbirds]

to be honest that looks like something I find at the back of my salad draw in the fridge lol

[mollisia]

Hello,

cybershot is absolutely correct with his answer.

I just want to draw the attention to those who are interested in those fungi (the Sepedonium I mean, not insane bolets ), that there are more than one species, Sepedonium chrysospermum, on bolets. E.g. the one on Porphyrellus porphyrosporus is a different species, not yet described (or only recently).

best regards,
Andreas

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by janetmacp

I did look also at the Pisolithus arhizus but it comes into the "inverted pear" shape which doesn't seem right in this instance. Neither does the colour but I daresay that varies.

my wordless response above was down to the fact that this is so obviously a diseased fungus, that I was taken aback that someone could not spot it - honestly, that's not meant to be as rude as it probably looks Adam - sincere apologies

the fungus in the middle of this clearly has a "proper" cap and stem - Pisolithus is such a different beast . . .

I appreciate that for people starting out these things are far from obvious, but trawling the internet for fungi that look like the one you've collected (unless you have some idea to start with) can lead to far more confusion than solutions at times

Andreas is quite correct - looking at the fungi which attack other fungi can be very interesting - check out the recent thread re a fungus attacking Blushers; birch polypore Piptoporus betulinus is another good place to start - it has several species in different groups attacking it

best

Chris

[janetmacp]

Thank you all for your help and such interesting comments. I've learned a great deal! However, I am a beginner in this field of Natural History and whilst I appreciate I cannot begin to match my photos with those on the internet I do find it a useful tool but I don't start there! I use the pocket sized Collins Nature Guides "Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe" Edmund Garnweidner in the field and back it up with Roger Phillips Mushrooms (the first edition). If nothing shows up then I go to The Mushroom Expert.com and use their keys and I may also look at Rogersmushrooms.com. When I'm really stuck I come to you. I don't live near any expert and forays are seldom in my area, though I have arranged a couple in my own woods, but if anyone can suggest a better way to tackle these fungi please tell me.

[mollisia]

Hi,

in my opinion you are exactly going the best way. Except perhaps, that you could show here and there a foto from something which you may be didn't got stuck, but which was difficult to determine - just for being sure and just for the delight of us other members here who like to look at mushroom fotos

best regards,
Andreas