''Boletus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

-producing

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, comprising over 100 species. The genus ''Boletus'' was originally broadly defined and described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753, essentially containing all fungi with hymenial pores instead of gills. Since then, other genera have been defined gradually, such as ''

Tylopilus ''Tylopilus'' is a genus of over 100 species of mycorrhizal bolete fungi separated from ''Boletus''. Its best known member is the bitter bolete (''Tylopilus felleus''), the only species found in Europe. More species are found in North America, s ...

'' by

Petter Adolf Karsten Petter Adolf Karsten (16 February 1834 – 22 March 1917) was a Finnish mycologist, the foremost expert on the fungi of Finland in his day, and known in consequence as the "father of Finnish mycology". Karsten was born in Merimasku near Turku, st ...

in 1881, and old names such as ''

Leccinum ''Leccinum'' is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. It was the name given first to a series of fungi within the genus ''Boletus'', then erected as a new genus last century. Their main distinguishing feature is the small, rigid projections ...

'' have been resurrected or redefined. Some mushrooms listed in older books as members of the genus have now been placed in separate genera. These include such as ''Boletus scaber'', now ''

Leccinum scabrum ''Leccinum scabrum'', commonly known as the rough-stemmed bolete, scaber stalk, and birch bolete, is an edible mushroom in the family Boletaceae, and was formerly classified as ''Boletus scaber''. The birch bolete is widespread in Europe, in t ...

'', ''

Tylopilus felleus ''Tylopilus felleus'', commonly known as the bitter bolete or the bitter tylopilus, is a fungus of the bolete family. Its distribution includes east Asia, Europe and eastern North America, extending south into Mexico and Central America. A m ...

'', ''

Chalciporus piperatus ''Chalciporus piperatus'', commonly known as the peppery bolete, is a small pored mushroom of the family Boletaceae found in mixed woodland in Europe and North America. It has been recorded under introduced trees in Brazil, and has become n ...

'' and ''

Suillus luteus ''Suillus luteus'' is a bolete fungus, and the type species of the genus ''Suillus''. A common fungus native all across Eurasia from Ireland to Korea, it has been introduced widely elsewhere, including North and South America, southern Africa ...

''. Most boletes have been found to be ectomycorrhizal fungi, which mean that they form a mutualistic relationship with the roots system of certain kinds of plants. More recently, ''Boletus'' has been found to be massively

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

, with only a small percentage of the over 300 species that have been assigned to ''Boletus'' actually belonging there and necessitating the description and resurrection of many more genera. The name is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

term ''bōlētus'' 'mushroom' 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 ...

, ', ultimately from , ' 'lump' or 'clod'. However, the of

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...

is thought to have been the much prized ''

Amanita caesarea ''Amanita caesarea'', commonly known as Caesar's mushroom, is a highly regarded edible mushroom in the genus ''Amanita'', native to southern Europe and North Africa. While it was first described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772, this mus ...

''.

Phylogenetic tree of ''Boletus''

source:

Edibility

The genus ''Boletus'' contains many members which are edible, such as ''

Boletus edulis ''Boletus edulis'' (English: cep, penny bun, porcino or porcini) is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus ''Boletus''. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occu ...

'', ''

Boletus aereus ''Boletus aereus'', the dark cep or bronze bolete, is a highly prized and much sought-after edible mushroom in the family Boletaceae. The bolete is widely consumed in Spain ( Basque Country and Navarre), France, Italy, Greece, and generally ...

'' and ''

Boletus barrowsii ''Boletus barrowsii'', also known in English as the white king bolete after its pale colored cap, is an edible and highly regarded fungus in the genus ''Boletus'' that inhabits western North America. Found under ponderosa pine and live oak in au ...

''. Boletes with red pores may be toxic.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Boletales genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Phylogenetic tree of ''Boletus''

Edibility

See also

References

External links