| | The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
~ Boletaceae, Gomphidiaceae, Rhizopogonaceae
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; differentiated into a stipe and pileus with the hymenium underneath the latter; medium sized to large; 4–12 cm across. The mature pileus convex, or more or less flat or somewhat depressed. The top of the pileus conspicuously patterned with scales, or not patterned with scales; buff to straw-coloured (or yellowish brown), or reddish-brown, or light brown, or yellow. The stipe with neither ring nor volva; developing cavities at maturity (Boletinus), or not developing cavities. The hymenium porose. The hymenial layer readily separable from the supporting flesh. The hymenium not thickening. The basidia ‘unmodified’.
The hyphae with clamp connections (Boletinus), or without clamp connections. The hyphal walls lamellate, with a thin, electron-dense outer layer and a relatively thick, electron-transparent inner layer.
Chemical reactions. The context hyphae not xanthochroic. Yielding prenylated phenols and quinones (excepting Boletinus?).
Ecology. Saprophytic. The fruit-bodies borne on the ground. Associated with conifers. Found in mixed woodland and in coniferous woodland.
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 17 species in Britain; Suillus (including Boletinus, Fuscoboletinus, Ixocomus, Pinuzza).
World representation. 51 species; genera 2. Widespread north temperate, introduced in the southern hemisphere.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Boletales.
Illustrations. • Suillus bovinus, S. grevillei, S. granulatus, S. luteus, S. variegatus (LH). SUILLACEAE. 1, Suillus bovinus; 2, Suillus granulatus; 3, Suillus luteus; 4, Suillus variegatus; 5, Suillus grevillei?. Sunesen & Dahlstrøm, in Lange & Hora (1965).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2008 onwards. The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland. Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
