''Xerocomellus chrysenteron'', formerly known as ''Boletus chrysenteron'' or ''Xerocomus chrysenteron'', is a small,

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

, wild

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

in the family

Boletaceae The Boletaceae are a family of mushroom-forming fungi, primarily characterised by small pores on the spore-bearing hymenial surface (at the underside of the mushroom), instead of gills as are found in most agarics. Nearly as widely distributed ...

. These mushrooms have tubes and pores instead of

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

beneath their

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. It is commonly known as the red cracking bolete.

Taxonomy

This mushroom was first described and named as ''Boletus communis'' in 1789 by the eminent French botanist

Jean Baptiste Francois Pierre Bulliard Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

. Two years later, in 1791, it was given the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''chrysenteron'' by the same author, the species name coming from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''khrysos'' "gold" and ''enteron'' "innards". In 1888,

Lucien Quelet Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to: People Given name * Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint *Lucien, a band member ...

placed it in the new genus ''Xerocomus'', retaining the ''chrysenteron'' epithet. This binomial was generally accepted until 1985 when

Marcel Bon Marcel Bon (17 March 1925 – 11 May 2014)http://fmbds.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/CAFAM-2014-CR-complet.pdf was one of France's best known field mycologists. He was born in Picardy in 1925 and came to mycology through general botany, and ph ...

decided to resurrect the former specific epithet ''communis'', which resulted in the binomial ''Xerocomus communis''. While it recently resided back in the genus ''Boletus'', a
''B. chrysenteron'' Bull.
recent phylogenetic analysis supports its placement as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the new genus ''

Xerocomellus ''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'' ...

'', described by Šutara in 2008.

Description

Young specimens often have a dark, dry surface, and

tomentose Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

. When fully expanded, the brownish cap ranges from in diameter with very little substance and thin flesh that turns a blue color when slightly cut or bruised. The caps mature to convex and plane in old age. Cracks in the mature cap reveal a thin layer of light red flesh below the skin. The 1 to 2 cm-diameter stems have no

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

, are mostly bright yellow and the lower part is covered in coral-red

fibrils Fibrils (from the Latin ''fibra'') are structural biological materials found in nearly all living organisms. Not to be confused with fibers or filaments, fibrils tend to have diameters ranging from 10-100 nanometers (whereas fibers are micro ...

and has a constant elliptical to fusiform diameter throughout its length of 4 to 10 cm tall. The cream-colored stem flesh turns blue when cut. The species has large, yellow, angular pores, and produces an olive brown

spore print 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...

. The fruit bodies of ''X. chrysenteron'' are prone to infestation by the bolete eater (''

Hypomyces chrysospermus ''Hypomyces chrysospermus'', the bolete eater, is a parasitic ascomycete fungus that grows on bolete mushrooms, turning the afflicted host a whitish, golden yellow, or tan color. It is found in Eurasia and North America, as well as southwest We ...

'').

Distribution and habitat

''Xerocomellus chrysenteron'' grows singly or in small groups in hardwood/conifer woods from early fall to mid-winter. It is

mycorrhizal A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plan ...

with hardwood trees, often

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

on well drained soils. It is frequent in parts of the northern

temperate zones In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

. The species has been recorded in Taiwan. It has been introduced to New Zealand, where it grows in groups under introduced deciduous trees. This species may not be as common as once thought, having been often mistaken for the recently recognised ''B. cisalpinus'' Simonini, Ladurner & Peintner.

Edibility

''Xerocomellus chrysenteron'' is considered

but not desirable due to bland flavor and soft texture. The pores are recommended to be removed immediately after mushrooms are picked as they rapidly decay. Young fungi are palatable and suitable for drying, but they become slimy when cooked; mature specimens are rather tasteless and decay quickly.

Gallery

Xerocomus_chrysenteron_a1.jpg, Maturing specimens Bol.chrys.jpg, Specimens with large yellow pores Xerocomellus chrysenteron, Edible fungi in basket 2013 G1.jpg, Picked mushrooms in basket Mold boletus chrysenteron rotfussroehrling.jpg, Mold growing on old specimen Boletus chrysenteron (Red Cracking Bolete).JPG, Mature picked specimens Red Cracking Bolete (Boletus chrysenteron) spore print.JPG, Spore print

Similar species

''Xerocomellus chrysenteron'' cannot be identified with certainty without the aid of a microscope, as many intermediate forms occur between it and other taxa, in particular, some forms of ''

Boletus pruinatus ''Boletus'' is a genus of mushroom-producing fungi, comprising over 100 species. The genus ''Boletus'' was originally broadly defined and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, essentially containing all fungi with hymenial pores instead of gil ...

'' and '' Hortiboletus rubellus''. '' B. porosporus'' is also similar to this species, but it is easily separated on account of the whitish under layer and truncate (chopped off) spores. This species is also easily confused with ''B. cisalpinus'', '' B. declivitatum'', '' B. dryophilus'', '' B. mirabilis'', '' B. truncatus'', and '' B. zelleri''. The caps are similar to '' Imleria badia'', the bay bolete.

References

External links

* *
''Xerocomus chrysenteron''About: ''Xerocomus chrysenteron'' (Bull.) Quél.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q254161 Boletaceae Fungi of Asia Fungi of Europe Fungi of New Zealand Fungi of North America Edible fungi Fungi described in 1789 Taxa named by Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard