Suillus grevillei - Larch Bolete

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

The most abundant of the Suillus species in the British Isles, the Larch Bolete appears in parks during summer and autumn. A woolly white veil covers the pores of young specimens.

This very common bolete is named in honour of the Scottish botanist/mycologist Robert Kaye Greville (1794 – 1866), whose academic career was paralelled by an interest in all aspects of the natural world and an exceptional talent as a botanical and landscape artist.

Identification Guide

	Cap Variously coloured pale yellow, daffodil yellow, bright chrome yellow or bright rusty yellow, the cap of the Larch Bolete is very viscid when wet and remain shiny even in dry weather. 4 to 12cm across at maturity, and expanding until almost flat (occasionally conical or with a marked raised central area, known as an umbo), the caps of large specimens of this conspicuous bolete are quite often somewhat wavy at the margin. Tubes and Pores At first lemon yellow, the angular pores take on a cinnamon tint as the fruiting body matures. When bruised, the pores turn rusty brown. The tubes are pale yellow and do not change colour when the cap is cut.
Stem	1.2 to 2cm in diameter and 5 to 7cm long, the stip provides a useful identifying feature: the thin white veil that covers the tubes of immature fruiting bodies forms a transient ring of the stem. When the ring falls away a pale area is left on the stem. Most of the stem is covered in brown dot-like scales; but above the ring zone the stem is often paler and almost scaleless (not so in the specimen shown here!).
Spore print	Ochre or sienna-brown.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	Beneath larch trees.
Season	July to October.
Occurrence	Very common.
Similar species	Suillus granulatus is quite similar but has no stem ring.