Caloboletus conifericola Vizzini
No common name
Boletaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
No common name
Boletaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
Features include 1) dark olive-gray to gray-brown cap, 2) white to pale yellow flesh that turns instantly blue when bruised, 3) yellow to olivaceous pores that turn instantly blue when bruised, 4) yellow stem with olive-brown to blackish tints near base, 5) fine reticulation [network pattern] on upper stem, and 6) bitter taste. The description is derived from Bessette except where indicated. According to Siegel(2), based on preliminary genetic analysis, it is possible that Caloboletus frustosus (with salmon to red lower stem) is the same species as Caloboletus conifericola - if so the name Caloboletus frustosus would take precedence (see Caloboletus calopus for further details).
Odor:
not distinctive (Thiers), pleasant (Phillips)
Taste:
bitter (Bessette, Dick)
Microscopic:
spores 12-16.5 x 4-5.5(6) microns, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, pale yellowish green in 2% KOH; cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia scarce, 27-47 x 7-10 microns, "ventricose to ventricose-rostrate with short necks thin or thick, some necks bent or twisted", colorless, a few pale yellow; hyphae of cap surface, flesh, and trama "staining very pale gray to gray in Melzer''s solution, the crosswalls with a distinct peripheral amyloid ring", (Dick), spores 12-17 x 4-6 microns, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, smooth, yellowish, (Bessette)
Spore Deposit:
olive-brown (Bessette)
Notes:
Caloboletus conifericola is found in BC, WA, OR, and AK, (Bessette). It has been reported from ID (A. Parker, pers. comm., K. Chadwick, pers. comm.). Caloboletus conifericola is found rarely in Humboldt and Del Norte counties in CA (Desjardin(6)).
EDIBILITY
no, because bitter, (Bessette)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Caloboletus calopus has an olive-brown to brown cap and stem "with carmine-red that does not stain blue when bruised", (Bessette). C. calopus is more reticulate (Phillips). Caloboletus frustosus has conspicuously cracked cap surface when mature and pink to reddish color on stem, (Trudell(4) as Boletus calopus var. frustosus).Habitat
single, scattered or in groups under conifers, (Bessette)
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Clavaria fragilis Fr.
Clavaria vermicularis Sw.