Austroboletus occidentalis
This fungi, found in the Freycinet National Park in Tasmania, is probably Austroboletus occidentalis. There is a lot of similarity between A. occidentalis and A. lacunosus, but the following extract from a FungiMap newsletter explains the essential difference.
Austroboletus occidentalis and A. lacunosus are boletes which share a number of features, the most notable of which is an exquisite, deeply reticulated stem surface.The caps of both species are initially slightly conico-convex, but flatten as they mature.
They share the samecap colour - a pale dusky pinkish at first which becomes yellowish rusty brown, sometimes almost orange-brown.They both have cap surfaces which exhibit a suede-like appearance. The cap margins are uneven and hang downover the edge (appendiculate) and before the cap expands this margin clings, but is not attached, to the stem. Whenimmature, the tubes are creamy white, but as the pinkish-brown to brown spores mature, the tubes turn flesh-coloured to pinkish-brown.
I have documented three collections of each species now and, until the last collection in May last year, had thought that A. lacunosus was the smaller of the two species. Of the nine fruiting bodies found that day in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park, the largest had a cap of enormous proportions. At 220 mm broad it far exceeded the 90 mm cap of the last collection I had made of A. occidentalis. Despite these similarities, it is simple to tell the species apart – you only have to touch them. Whereas the caps and stems of A. lacunosus are dry, those of A. occidentalis are sticky to touch and the bits which adhere to the fingers arelastingly bitter. Its stem is white, taller than the otherspecies, moist and even slightly glutinous at times, while that of A. lacunosus is dry, more deeply reticulate and slightly tinged pinkish-rusty-yellowish near the base. In addition the fruit bodies of A. lacunosus have a pleasant, slightly fragrant, scent.
| Austroboletus occidentalis | - Austroboletus occidentalis, Freycinet National Park, east coast of Tasmania, May 2006. Pileus was very wet; cap was visc | |
