Gyroporus castaneus

Gyroporus castaneus, or commonly the chestnut bolete, is a small, white-pored relation of the Boletus mushrooms. It has a brown cap, and is usually found with oak trees. It differs from the true boletes in that the spores are a pale straw colour.

Gyroporus castaneus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Boletales
Family:
Gyroporaceae
Genus:
Gyroporus
Species:
G. castaneus
Binomial name
Gyroporus castaneus
Synonyms

Boletus castaneus Bull. (1787)
Suillus castaneus (Bull.) P.Karst. (1882)
Leucobolites castaneus (Bull.) Beck (1923)

Gyroporus castaneus
float
Mycological characteristics
pores on hymenium
cap is convex or flat
stipe is bare
spore print is yellow
ecology is mycorrhizal
edibility: choice but not recommended

Taxonomy

The species was described initially by the French mycologist Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard (1742–1792). Formerly a member of the family Paxillaceae, research now places this mushroom in Gyroporaceae. Gyroporus means 'having round pores', and castaneus is a reference to the chestnut colouration.

Description

The cap is from 3 to 10 cm in diameter, and pale to rusty brown in colour, which becomes darker with age. The stem is a similar colour, although it may be lighter at the apex. If the stem is cut vertically, it is usual to find several cavities of differing sizes inside. Both the cap and the stem have a tendency to crack or split in dry periods, or with age. The pores are small and white; they become dirtier with age, and are not attached to the stem. They darken slightly when pressed. The tubes are also whitish, and the spore print is pale yellow to straw. The flesh is firm,[1] and does not change colour on cutting. The photograph on the right shows the chunkier form; a slender form also occurs.

Illustration of typical stem cavities in G. castaneus

Distribution and habitat

The mushroom is found occasionally in Britain and throughout continental Europe, as well as eastern North America, but it is rare in western North America.[2] It grows in small groups, or singly, in an ectomycorrhizal relationship with oaks (Quercus). It prefers acid and sandy soils, and fruits from summer to autumn. In New Zealand, it is found in association with Leptospermum.[3] In Asia, it has been recorded from Taiwan.[4]

Gyroporus castaneus has been included in the Moscow Oblast's and the Russian Federation's Red Book and several other countries' Red Lists, including those of Norway and Montenegro.[5][6][7]

Edibility

Gyroporus castaneus is edible, and highly regarded by most authors;[8] it is said to taste pleasantly nutty when young. However, Marcel Bon, in his 1987 book The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North Western Europe, records it as suspect,[9] so it may be worth applying caution, by eating a very small amount initially. There is also reportedly a poisonous strain of this mushroom in coastal Portugal.[10]

See also

References
  1. Roger Phillips (2006). Mushrooms. Pan MacMillan. ISBN 0-330-44237-6.
  2. David Arora (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press. ISBN 0-89815-169-4.
  3. McNabb RFR. (1968). "The Boletaceae of New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 6 (2): 137–76 (see p. 166). doi:10.1080/0028825X.1968.10429056.
  4. Yeh K-W, Chen Z-C. (1980). "The boletes of Taiwan" (PDF). Taiwania. 25 (1): 166–184.
  5. "Каштановий Гриб". Red Book of Moscow Oblast. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  6. "The Provisory Red List of Endangered Macromycetes of Montenegro" (PDF). Montenegrin Mycological Center. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  7. "Red List of Threatened Fungi in Norway". Fungiflora 1998. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  8. Phillips, Roger (2010). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-55407-651-2.
  9. Marcel Bon (1987). The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North Western Europe. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-39935-X.
  10. Thomas Laessoe (1998). Mushrooms (flexi bound). Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 0-7513-1070-0.
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