{{short description|Type of fungal fruiting body}} [[File:Boletus edulis EtgHollande 041031 091.jpg|227x227px|The porcini, ''Boletus edulis'', showing the solid looking, spongy bottom surface, which is the defining characteristic of boletes.|alt=A bolete, Boletus edulis, showing the solid looking, spongy bottom surface, which is the defining characteristic of boletes.|thumb]]
A '''bolete''' is a type of mushroom, or fungal fruiting body. It can be identified thanks to a unique cap. On the underside of the cap there is usually a spongy surface with pores, instead of the gills typical of mushrooms. A similar pore surface is found in polypores, but these species generally have a different physical structure from boletes, and have different microscopic characteristics than boletes. Many polypores have much firmer, often woody, flesh.
"Bolete" is the English common name for fungus species with caps that have this appearance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arora |first=David |title=Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi |date=1986 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=978-0-89815-170-1 |edition=2nd |location=Berkeley}}</ref>
Some, but not all boletes bruise blue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Biggane |first=Eric |date=2015-07-30 |title=Identifying Boletus Mushrooms |url=https://www.wildfooduk.com/articles/identifying-boletus-mushrooms/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Wild Food UK |language=en-GB}}</ref>
== Taxonomy == The boletes are classified in the order Boletales. However, not all members of the order Boletales are boletes. The micromorphology and molecular phylogeny of the order Boletales have established that it also contains many gilled, puffball, and other fruit body shapes. Examples of these fungi include ''Chroogomphus'', ''Gomphidius'', ''Phylloporus'', ''Paxillus, Tapinella,'' ''Hygrophoropsis'',<ref name=":1" /> and ''Scleroderma.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Genus Scleroderma (MushroomExpert.Com) |url=https://www.mushroomexpert.com/scleroderma.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.mushroomexpert.com}}</ref> alt=Pseudoboletus parasiticus mushrooms growing out of a Scleroderma citrinum mushroom|thumb|''Pseudoboletus parasiticus'' is a parasite to ''Scleroderma citrinum''. The genus ''Boletus'' was originally broadly defined and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, containing all pored mushrooms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prasher |first=I.B |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eM7WCQAAQBAJ&dq=boletus+linnaeus&pg=PA29 |title=Wood-rotting non-gilled Agaricomycetes of Himalayas |publisher=Springer |year=2015 |isbn=9789401798563}}</ref> Since then, gradually other genera have been defined, such as ''Tylopilus'' by Karsten in 1881,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tylopilus felleus, Bitter Bolete mushroom |url=https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/tylopilus-felleus.php |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.first-nature.com}}</ref> and old names such as ''Leccinum'' and ''Suillus'' resurrected or redefined.
Recently, the genus ''Boletus'' has been split up even more, creating new genera, such as ''Xerocomellus''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Šutara |first1=Josef |title=CZECH MYCOLOGY Czech Mycology 60(1): 29–62 ''Xerocomus'' s. l. in the light of the present state of knowledge. - abstract |url=http://www.czechmycology.org/doi/cmy.60104.php |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.czechmycology.org |language=en}}</ref> and ''Caloboletus''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Vizzini A. |title=Nomenclatural novelties |journal=Index Fungorum |issue=146 |date=10 June 2014 |issn=2049-2375 |pages=1–2 |url=http://www.indexfungorum.org/Publications/Index%20Fungorum%20no.146.pdf}}</ref>
== Ecology == Most boletes are mycorrhizal and are generally found in woodlands.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Boletes (MushroomExpert.Com) |url=https://www.mushroomexpert.com/boletes.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.mushroomexpert.com}}</ref> There is also a parasitic bolete, ''Pseudoboletus parasiticus'', which grows on ''Scleroderma citrinum.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parasitic Bolete {{!}} NatureSpot |url=https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/parasitic-bolete |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.naturespot.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pseudoboletus parasiticus (MushroomExpert.Com) |url=https://www.mushroomexpert.com/pseudoboletus_parasiticus.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.mushroomexpert.com}}</ref> Another parasitic bolete is ''Buchwaldoboletus lignicola'', which is a parasite to ''Phaeolus schweinitzii'', the dyer's polypore.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Initiative |first=The Global Fungal Red List |title=Buchwaldoboletus lignicola |url=https://redlist.info/iucn/species_view/327206/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=redlist.info |language=en}}</ref> alt=Two Satan's boletes on the forest floor, one knocked over, red pores showing.|thumb|Satan's bolete (''Rubroboletus satanas)'' is a very poisonous mushroom. Boletes are susceptible to infection by the fungus ''Hypomyces chrysospermus'', also known as the bolete eater.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hypomyces chrysospermus (MushroomExpert.Com) |url=https://www.mushroomexpert.com/hypomyces_chrysospermus.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.mushroomexpert.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Arora |first=David |title=Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi |date=1986 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=978-0-89815-170-1 |edition=2nd |location=Berkeley}}</ref>
== Edibility == alt=A xerocomellus bolete growing in moss.|thumb|200x200px|''Xerocomellus'' boletes are edible, but not highly prized. Many boletes, such as the porcini (''Boletus edulis''), are edible and considered a delicacy.<ref name=":0" /> However, other boletes, such as ''Suillus'' and ''Xerocomellus'' are considered edible, but not choice.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stevens |first=Michael Wood & Fred |title=California Fungi: Xerocomellus dryophilus |url=http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Xerocomellus_dryophilus.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=www.mykoweb.com}}</ref> Some boletes, such as ''Caloboletus'' and ''Tylopilus'' are too bitter to eat.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Schwarz |first1=Christian |title=Mushrooms of the redwood coast: a comprehensive guide to the fungi of coastal northern California |last2=Siegel |first2=Noah |date=2016 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=978-1-60774-817-5 |location=Berkeley}}</ref> Other boletes, such as ones in the ''Rubroboletus'' genus, such as Satan's bolete (''Rubroboletus satanas'') are dangerously poisonous.<ref name=":1" /> Most poisonous boletes have red pores.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Boletus edulis - Mushrooms Up! Edible and Poisonous Species of Coastal BC and the Pacific Northwest |url=https://explore.beatymuseum.ubc.ca/mushroomsup/B_edulis.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=explore.beatymuseum.ubc.ca |language=en}}</ref> Some boletes appear to be hallucinogenic bolete mushrooms.<ref name="Guzmán2015">{{cite journal | vauthors = Guzmán G | title = New Studies on Hallucinogenic Mushrooms: History, Diversity, and Applications in Psychiatry | journal = Int J Med Mushrooms | volume = 17 | issue = 11 | pages = 1019–1029 | date = 2015 | pmid = 26853956 | doi = 10.1615/intjmedmushrooms.v17.i11.10}}</ref><ref name="Arora2008">{{cite journal | last=Arora | first=David | title=Notes on Economic Mushrooms. Xiao Ren Ren: The "Little People" of Yunnan | journal=Economic Botany | publisher=New York Botanical Garden Press | volume=62 | issue=3 | year=2008 | issn=0013-0001 | jstor=40390492 | pages=540–544 | doi=10.1007/s12231-008-9049-0 | url=https://i.warosu.org/data/sci/img/0147/14/1659226200674553.pdf | access-date=18 February 2025}}</ref> One known bolete species that might be hallucinogenic is ''Boletus manicus''.<ref name="Thomas2003">{{cite journal |author=Thomas B.|year=2003 |title=''Boletus manicus'' Heim |journal= Journal of Psychoactive Drugs|volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=393–4 |pmid=14621139 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2003.10400024 |s2cid=31327216 }}</ref><ref name="Thomas2000">{{cite journal | vauthors = Thomas B | title = Psychoactive card XIII: Boletus manicus | journal = Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants and Compounds | volume = 4 | pages = 167–174 | date = 2000 | url = https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=4440227476399835497 | archive-url = https://archive.org/details/eleusis-vol4-2000/page/167/mode/1up | archive-date = 31 July 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Arora2008" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/Homobasidiomycete_clades.html "Evolution & Morphology in the Homobasidiomycetes" by Gary Lincoff & Michael Wood, ''MykoWeb.com'']
Category:Basidiomycota Category:Boletales Category:Fungal morphology and anatomy Boletes Category:Fungal fruiting body types