Suillus variegatus    (Sow.:Fr) Richon & Roze 

common name(s) : Velvet Bolete, Variegated Bolete 

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

synonyms: Boletus variegatus, Ixocomus variegatus 

edibility : discard

photo gallery of  Suillus variegatus
photo gallery of  Suillus variegatus potential confusions with  Suillus variegatus toxicity of Suillus variegatus genus Suillus  

The cap is ochre yellow to brownish-yellow, with olive-green shades, fleshy, of hemispherical, then convex shape, eventually expanded. The cap surface is rough, dotted with brown scales like sand grains and larger scales or patches darker than the background, often short-lasting. It is slightly viscid and sticky when damp or with age, not by dry weather, thick and peelable. The cap margin is thin, deeply inrolled then rounded, wavy.

The stem is full, long, firm, smooth to slightly downy and without any ring. It is of a more or less equal diameter. Its colour is the same as the cap's, or paler: ochre towards the apex, reddish brown towards the base, with pink-brown mycelium at the base..

The flesh is thick in the cap, quite firm in the young specimens, then soft-spongy, quickly infested with maggots. It is lemon yellow to ochre, more like brown at the base, unchanging to air or becoming a bit blue when cut and exposed to air (especially above the tubes) ; its taste is mild, or sometimes bitter; the odour is often strong but also sometimes weak according to some authors (chlorine or bleach, acidic, of metal, radish);

The tubes are decurrent, large, short (8-10 mm), and very easily removed from cap. They are orange yellow then greenish brown. They turn blue slightly when cut and exposed to air.

The pores are from 1 to 2,5 mm wide, composed (containing smaller pores), round then angular, irregular. They are a bit weeping when young (exuding milky droplets). They are concolorous to the tubes, then very particular (darker then similar species): olive brown, cinnamon and rusty brown when mature. They tuning faintly blue when pressed. The spore print is olive brown.

It grows in pine woods and damp places. It is found in large troops, on a rather acid, sometimes calcareous soil, with two-needle pines (Scots pines).

The fruiting period takes place from June to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 10 cm (between 4 and 15 cm)
  height of stem approximately 8 cm (between 4 and 15 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 20 mm (between 10 and 30 mm)
  spores : 8-11 x 3-4 microns, spindle-shaped to ellipsoid

Distinctive features : viscid cap when damp, ochre-yellow to olivaceous or brown-yellow; unpleasant smell of chlorine; cap surface speckled with dark, small adpressed scales; greenish-brown pores, composed of several smaller pores; stem without ring; with pines

Suillus variegatus is infrequent and scattered in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Suillus variegatus in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Suillus variegatus in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18