Boletus pinophilus, the pine bolete, is a porcini with a maroon to chocolate-brown cap and a coarse, orange-red net on its stem. It is ectomycorrhizal, chiefly with pines on poor, acidic, sandy soils, and is the rarest porcini-like mushroom in Europe.
Edible and highly regarded in Europe, Turkey and central Mexico. It bioaccumulates mercury, cadmium and selenium, concentrated in the pores, which should be removed before cooking. It is easily confused with other porcini; as with all boletes, rule out bitter Tylopilus and blue-staining, red-pored species.
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Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal in coniferous forest on poor, acidic, sandy soils, with pines (Scots, stone, black, Corsican, maritime, Monterey, mountain), European silver fir and spruce; also reported with chestnut, oak and beech. Summer and autumn, as early as April in Italy.
Distribution
Europe and western Asia, including Russia, Ukraine and Asia Minor; more common in Scotland and southern France; vulnerable in the Czech Republic. Also in exotic pine plantations in Mexico, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand and eastern North America. Native western North American populations once called B. pinophilus are now B. rex-veris; eastern ones are B. pseudopinophilus.
Characteristics
Cap: up to 40 cm; convex; dry and matte; maroon to chocolate brown with a reddish tint; young caps may be pale pink with a white powdery bloom. Pores: white when young, yellow, then olive-brown at maturity. Stem: large and bulbous, up to 25 cm tall and 16 cm thick; coarse orange-red reticulation, coarser than in other porcini. Flesh: white, soft in mature specimens; unchanging when bruised; pleasant taste and smell. Spore print: Olive-brown. Spores: cylindric-ellipsoid, smooth, 15.5-20 x 4.5-5.5 um.
