Suillus plorans    (Rolland) Kuntze 



New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Boletales/Suillaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Boletales/Boletaceae  

edibility : discard

potential confusions with  Suillus plorans toxicity of Suillus plorans genus Suillus  

The cap is of variable colour: orange-brown to dark olive-brown, veined with darker streaks, a darker disk and paler, olive-yellow margin, fleshy, hemispherical, then convex and finally a flattened, sometimes broadly conical. The cap surface is sticky in wet weather, matt when dry, entirely peelable. The cap margin is thin, incurved, slightly wavy.

The stem is olive yellow to ochre-brown, cylindrical but thicker below, full, covered with dark red-brown dots that may exude grey droplets in damp weather.

The flesh is soft, pale yellowish to orange or brown, especially at the stem base; its taste is mild; the odour is faint or rather distinctive according to authors, fruity or of penny bun;

The tubes are adnate to slightly decurrent, rather short (5-8 mm, sometimes up to 14mm), easily removed from cap. They are yellow then olive yellow, grey-orange to grey-brown.

The pores are round then angular, simple, quite thick (up to 1.5mm, sometimes more), dark olive yellow or stained with brown (milky droplets are oozing from the young specimens, which turn dark brown when drying). The spore print is olive brown.

It grows in coniferous woods, in altitudes higher than 1500m, on a rather calcareous soil, only with 5-needle pines (especially with the Swiss pin, Pinus cembra).

The fruiting period takes place from July to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 8 cm (between 3 and 12 cm)
  height of stem approximately 8 cm (between 3 and 12 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 15 mm (between 10 and 20 mm)

Chemical tests : positive and instant reaction to Melzer; grey-blue reaction to FeSO4; pink brown reaction to ammonia.

Distinctive features : olive brown cap; stem dotted with dark brown olive-yellow pores exuding grey droplets in the youth, eventually turning brown; in high altitudes (>1500m), only with 5 needle pines (mostly Swiss pines)

Suillus plorans is still unreported so far in the forest of Rambouillet, and is infrequent, more generally speaking .



page updated on 14/01/18