A sequestrate (gastroid) bolete of montane conifer forests that develops partly buried, with a brown, pitted, irregular cap, a stubby yellow stem and contorted yellow tubes ending in pink to red pores. All parts bruise blue. It was the first Gastroboletus recorded from North America and is thought to be more closely related to Neoboletus than to other Gastroboletus species.
Ectomycorrhizal; scattered to gregarious in soil under conifers, in California under red fir and white fir at higher elevations; rarely under live oaks on the California coast.
Distribution
Western North America; documented from high-elevation California (Calaveras, Lassen, Sierra and Siskiyou counties). Thiers suggested it may be widespread in temperate North American conifer forests, but the sources consulted give records mainly from California.
Characteristics
Cap: 3-5 cm, convex to very irregular, dry, pitted and wrinkled, velvety; brown to chestnut brown, often with reddish or yellowish spots or flushes; margin incurved. Tubes: 1.5-3 cm long, greenish yellow, sinuous and irregular, not vertical. Pores: 0.5-1 mm, angular, pink to red, bruising blue. Stem: 2-4 cm long, 1-2 cm thick at top, solid, yellow with small reddish scales or granules. Flesh: yellow, turning blue when cut. Odor and taste: mild. Spores: fusoid to subellipsoid, thick-walled, smooth, not truncate, 13.5-15.5 x 7.5-8.5 um (Thiers, as given on MykoWeb Boletes of California).
