Fungi Friday 🍄

West Sussex, August 2023

Walking home from the railway station I often scan the verge where some copper beech trees grow.

In the past I’ve seen some summer season boletes growing but never had the chance to look more closely. Not sure why.

One afternoon last week I spotted something and sidled over to have a better look. I took a few phone photos. My Fairphone had an Android OS update recently and it has aged the phone by a couple of years, making photos a very sluggish experience. Anyway, I got a few reasonable images.

I think there may be two species of bolete here.

There are two mushrooms here in this photo of one species. The stipe was especially tough and you can see a little bit of yellow underneath the bulbous cap. I need to look into the ID but it looks a bit like a rooting bolete, though far too small.

A few yards away, not under the beech trees, was this line of red-cracking boletes. They are in the genus Xerocomellus, which has several species. They’re quite common in south-east England and particularly in oak woodland.

These lovely yellow pores are indicative of red-cracking boletes, and the pores point to boletes in general, rather than typical gills.

Summer bolete season is definitely in full flow.

Thanks for reading.