Fungi Friday 🍄

Horsham, West Sussex, July 2025

Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄

The other day, I noticed some mushrooms growing in short grassland underneath a copper beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) on a main road. It’s a slither of green that I’ve inspected before and found Amanitas.

At first thought they were some indescribable grey species. But they were much more than that.

I picked one to have a look at the gills and was surprised to find the bright red or orange pores of one of the more interesting boletes.

I love boletes and have been keen to improve my knowledge of them. But they’re ephemeral and are fruiting in the summer months when I don’t seem to be in the woods too often.

I didn’t have any guesses about an exact species but when I put the sighting on iNaturalist someone suggested something I didn’t expect. The pale cap gave someone the impression it was the rare Satan’s bolete (Rubroboletus satanas).

I’m not in a position to answer the question, but it perhaps lacks the paler cap of Satan’s bolete. It might be Rubroboletus legaliae, as suggested on BlueSky.

Satan’s bolete gets its name from its toxicity and possibly its red colour. I didn’t take the fungus home, I plugged it back in (no evidence it will reconnect to the mycelium). As I have written and posted this a few days later you should appreciate I didn’t eat it!

Thanks for reading.