The Boletaceae are a family of mushroom-forming fungi, primarily characterised by small pores on the spore-bearing hymenial surface, instead of gills as are found in most agarics. Nearly as widely distributed as the agarics, the family is renowned for hosting some prime edible species highly sought after by mushroom hunters worldwide, such as the cep or king bolete . A number of rare or threatened species are also present in the family, that have become the focus of increasing conservation concerns. As a whole, the typical members of the family are commonly known as boletes.
Xerocomus is a genus of poroid fungi related to Boletus. Many mycologists did not originally recognize the distinction between the two genera and placed Xerocomus taxa in genus Boletus. However, several molecular phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that Xerocomus is a heterogeneous genus of polyphyletic origin, which has resulted in further division of Xerocomus into Xerocomellus and Hemileccinum. The members of the genus Xerocomellus are more closely related to Boletus than true Xerocomus is, which is relatively distantly related to Boletus and more closely related to Phylloporus. Other former Xerocomus species have since been moved to Aureoboletus, Imleria, Hortiboletus and Rheubarbariboletus.
Suillellus luridus, commonly known as the lurid bolete, is a fungus of the family Boletaceae, found in calcareous broadleaved woodlands in Europe. Fruit bodies appear in summer and autumn and may be locally abundant. It is a firm bolete with an olive-brown cap up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter, with small orange or red pores on the underside. The stout ochre stem reaches 8–14 cm (3–6 in) high and 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) wide, and is patterned with a red network. Like several other red-pored boletes, it stains blue when bruised or cut.
Hortiboletus rubellus, commonly known as the ruby bolete, is a small, dainty, brightly coloured member of the family Boletaceae, with a reddish cap and stipe, and yellow pores. Like many boletes, it stains blue when cut or bruised. It is found in deciduous woodland in autumn. There is some question over its edibility, and it is reportedly of poor quality with a taste of soap. Until 2015, the species was known as Boletus rubellus.
Xerocomus subtomentosus, commonly known as suede bolete, brown and yellow bolete , boring brown bolete or yellow-cracked bolete, is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. The fungus was initially described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and known for many years as Boletus subtomentosus. It is edible, though not as highly regarded as other bolete mushrooms.
Exsudoporus frostii, commonly known as Frost's bolete or the apple bolete, is a bolete fungus first described scientifically in 1874. A member of the family Boletaceae, the mushrooms produced by the fungus have tubes and pores instead of gills on the underside of their caps. Exsudoporus frostii is distributed in the eastern United States from Maine to Georgia, and in the southwest from Arizona extending south to Mexico and Costa Rica. A mycorrhizal species, its fruit bodies are typically found growing near hardwood trees, especially oak.
Pseudoboletus parasiticus, previously known as Boletus parasiticus and Xerocomus parasiticus, and commonly known as the parasitic bolete, is a rare Boletaceae mushroom found on earthballs. Pseudoboletus parasiticus is one of the earliest-diverging lineages of the Boletaceae, after the clade comprising Chalciporus and Buchwaldoboletus.
Xerocomus illudens is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. Described as new to science in 1898, it is found in Asia and North America, where it grows in a mycorrhizal association with oak.
Xerocomellus is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. The genus, as it was described in 2008, contained 12 species. However X. rubellus and X. engelii were transferred to the new genus Hortiboletus and X. armeniacus was transferred to the new genus Rheubarbariboletus in 2015. Molecular analysis supports the distinction of Xerocomellus species from Boletus and Xerocomus, within which these species were formerly contained. Xerocomellus in fact is only distantly related to Xerocomus and is most closely related to Tylopilus, Boletus sensu stricto, Porphyrellus, Strobilomyces, and Xanthoconium.
Imperator torosus, commonly known as the brawny bolete, is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. It is native to southern Europe east to the Caucasus and Israel. It is generally associated with deciduous trees such as hornbeam, oak and beech in warm, dry locales. Although generally rare in Europe, it appears to be relatively common in Hungary. Appearing in summer and autumn on chalky soils, the stocky fruit bodies have an ochre cap up to 20 cm (8 in) across, yellow pores on the cap underside, and a wine-red to brown or blackish stipe up to 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) long by 3–6 cm (1.2–2.4 in) wide. The pale yellow flesh changes to different colours when broken or bruised depending on age; younger mushrooms become reddish, and older ones additionally take on bluish tones.
Imperator luteocupreus is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. It is native to southern Europe, where it is found under chestnut (Castanea) and oak (Quercus). Although it was originally described in genus Boletus, it was placed in the new genus Imperator in 2015, based on phylogenetic inferences.
Rheubarbariboletus armeniacus is a small mushroom in the family Boletaceae native to Europe. It was formerly placed in the genera Boletus, Xerocomus, and Xerocomellus. It acquired its current name when it was transferred to genus Rheubarbariboletus in 2015.
Hemileccinum is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. It was erected in 2008 by Josef Šutara to contain two species united by a number of shared morphological features: H. depilatum and the type H. impolitum. In 2014, Wu et al. found it to be distinct from other bolete genera in a molecular phylogenetic study and found it to be most closely related to Corneroboletus. In 2015, H. subglabripes was transferred to Hemileccinum from Boletus based on DNA evidence, while subsequent studies further confirmed the monophyly of the genus.
Suillellus comptus is a species of bolete fungus found in Europe. Originally described as a species of Boletus in 1993, it was transferred to Suillellus in 2014.
Rubroboletus pulchrotinctus is a rare bolete fungus in the genus Rubroboletus, native to central and southern Europe. It was originally described in genus Boletus by Italian mycologist Carlo Luciano Alessio in 1985, but subsequently transferred to genus Rubroboletus by Zhao and colleagues (2015), on the basis of molecular evidence. Phylogenetically, R. pulchrotinctus is the sister-species of the better known Rubroboletus satanas, with which it shares several morphological features.
Hemileccinum impolitum is a basidiomycete fungus of the family Boletaceae, native to Europe. It is commonly referred to as the iodine bolete, because its fruit bodies tend to emit an iodine odour when cut, more detectable in the stem base or overripe specimens.
Imleria is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. It was erected in 2014 by Alfredo Vizzini as a new genus for what had previously been named Boletus badius or Xerocomus badius. It was placed in its own genus because of its distinct morphological features and because it had previously been found to belong in its own genus in a molecular phylogenetics study by Gelardi et al. (2013). Zhu et al. (2014) placed three more species in Imleria. Species of Imleria can be found in Europe, North America and Asia. The genus is named in honor of Belgian mycologist Louis Imler (1900–1993).
Imleria badia, commonly known as the bay bolete, is an edible, pored mushroom found in Eurasia and North America, where it grows in coniferous or mixed woods on the ground or on decaying tree stumps, sometimes in prolific numbers. Both the common and scientific names refer to the bay- or chestnut-coloured cap, which is almost spherical in young specimens before broadening and flattening out to a diameter up to 15 cm (6 in). On the cap underside are small yellowish pores that turn dull blue-grey when bruised. The smooth, cylindrical stipe, measuring 4–9 cm long by 1–2 cm thick, is coloured like the cap, but paler. Some varieties have been described from eastern North America, differing from the main type in both macroscopic and microscopic morphology.
Alessioporus is a fungal genus in the family Boletaceae. It was circumscribed in 2014 to contain the species formerly known as Xerocomus ichnusanus. Alessioporus ichnusanus is found in southern Europe, where it grows in association with oak species and less often Cistus species. It grows even less frequently with Castanea sativa and possibly with Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Pteridium aquilinum.
Leccinellum lepidum is a species of bolete in the family Boletaceae. Originally described as Boletus lepidus in 1965, the fungus has gone through controversial taxonomic treatments over the years and was subsequently transferred to genus Krombholziella in 1985, to genus Leccinum in 1990, and to genus Leccinellum in 2003. It is the sister-species of Leccinellum corsicum, with which it had been erroneously synonymised by some authors in the past.
