White mushroom (Boletus edulis) photo and description

Varieties

The types of porcini mushrooms differ not only in appearance, but also in the peculiarities of symbiosis with the roots of higher plants. They are found on soils with different compositions and in regions with different climatic conditions.

White mushroom net

This species prefers to grow on dry alkaline soils and bears fruit from June to September. It is often found in chestnut, beech and oak forests in Europe, America and Africa. The reticulated appearance has an external resemblance to the flywheel.

Distinctive features:

the leg is short, has a cylindrical shape and a mesh pattern of a light brown shade;
the cap is buffy or brownish, its diameter can reach 30 cm.

Old mushrooms may have small cracks in the cap.

White mushroom dark bronze

Has other names - copper and hornbeam. It is found in deciduous forests of warm climatic zones.

External description:

the cap is dense, has a dark saturated color (in young mushrooms it is almost black) and a convex shape;
the diameter of the cap is up to 17 cm, there may be cracks on the smooth peel;
pinkish-brown stem of cylindrical shape, has a thickening at the bottom.

The tubular layer (hymenophore) in young fungi is almost white, later it can turn light yellow. When pressed, a greenish tint appears. The species bears fruit from July to October, in some regions it can be found from May.

Birch white mushroom

It grows under birches, the fruiting period lasts from early summer to October. It appears in the forest when the ears of grain crops are ripening, therefore it is also called a spikelet.

External differences:

a light-colored hat has a diameter of up to 15 cm;
the hymenophore is yellow;
the white leg resembles a barrel in shape, there is a pattern of a light brown shade on it.

When cut, the pulp does not have a bright aroma.

Pine mushroom

This type is found on sandy soils. Fruiting more often near pine trees, in rare cases it can grow under spruce and deciduous trees. Found in pine forests in Europe, Asia and America.

Distinctive features:

the diameter of the cushion cap can be up to 25 cm;
the surface of the cap is red-brown with a lilac tint, there is a light edging at the edges;
the tubular layer is yellowish;
the thick leg is strongly thickened towards the base, covered with a cream-colored pattern.

Fruiting from early summer to September, can occur from late spring.

White oak mushroom

A feature of the oak species is the brown color of the cap with a grayish tint. Other features:

loose pulp;
there may be light spots on the cap;
grows in large groups.

Occurs from early summer to mid-autumn. Habitat - oak forests of the European part of Russia, Primorsky Krai, the Caucasus.

Spruce white mushroom

The most common variety found in fir and spruce forests on various continents, except Iceland and Australia. It can also bear fruit under deciduous trees. The fruiting period is from June to October.

External characteristics:

the hat has a convex shape, brown or chestnut shade (diameter - up to 30 cm);
the peel is velvety to the touch, does not separate well;
the hymenophore is light yellow in color;
the leg is light brown, thickened in the lower part.

The development of the spruce species is favorably influenced by warm nights, fogs, thunderstorms, as well as the presence of sandy soil and loam. The spruce mushroom often prefers an open area that is well warmed up by the sun's rays. Grows in old forests with an abundance of moss and lichens.

Other varieties

Another variety is the royal mushroom (king), found on soils with an abundance of limestone and sand.This is a tasty and aromatic species, its distinctive features are a bright expressive hat and a yellowish stem. When broken, the flesh of the royal boletus acquires a bluish tint.

There is a rare species - a semi-white mushroom, which is more common in the Carpathian region and southern regions of Russia. Its cap has a clay-brown hue, the pulp, when cut, emits a specific smell of iodine. According to its taste characteristics, the semi-white mushroom is assigned to category 3.

Evaluation of edibility of white spruce mushroom

In terms of taste, the white spruce mushroom is considered one of the best edible species. These mushrooms are boiled, fried, pickled and dried. After drying, the color of the mushrooms does not change, and they have a very pleasant aroma. The dried mushrooms are ground and the mushroom powder is used to dress various dishes.

In Italy, porcini spruce mushrooms are placed raw in salads, which are seasoned with spices, butter, parmesan and lemon juice. Also sauces are prepared from porcini mushrooms, which are perfect for meat and rice dishes.

Medicinal properties of white spruce mushrooms

Ceps contain substances that have an antitumor and tonic effect on the body. Extract from fresh mushrooms suppresses Ehrlich's carcinoma and sarcoma-180.

The white fungus contains polysaccharides that have anti-inflammatory effects, such as glucan and glucogalactomannan, which stabilize cell membranes and protect the lungs from inflammation. In Poland, the polysaccharides of these mushrooms were studied, and it was found that they have a capillary-strengthening effect.

Also, porcini mushrooms contain betaine, choline and herzenin, shown to people with angina pectoris. These mushrooms contain many useful trace elements, for example, phosphorus, potassium, proteins.

The porcini mushroom has not only exceptional nutritional value, it stimulates the production of digestive juices. Scientists have studied the saponity of various types of mushrooms (chanterelles, aspen mushrooms, oak trees), and it was determined that it is porcini mushrooms that stimulate digestion best of all, in this indicator they even surpass meat broth.

Even in ancient Rome, these mushrooms were highly valued. They were prepared in special gardens called boletarii. The ancient Romans noted that porcini mushrooms helped with skin problems and stomach ailments. Women with the help of porcini mushroom extract took care of their faces, got rid of rashes, acne and traces of rubella and smallpox.

In some parts of Italy, porcini mushrooms are actively used as a means of increasing potency. In Latvia, these mushrooms are used to treat stomach pains, angina pectoris and the effects of frostbite. In China, a powder is made from porcini mushrooms, which is used against cramps, to relax muscles and normalize lymph flow. Also, the Chinese bake porcini mushrooms with ginseng, it is believed that such a dish promotes conception.

In Russia, ulcers and non-healing wounds were treated with the help of an extract of porcini mushrooms. And also used as a prophylaxis against cancer.

Forms of porcini mushroom

Alpine porcini mushroom is distinguished by a white cap, the diameter of which reaches 25 centimeters. The tubular layer in mature specimens gradually turns yellow. The leg is always pure white with a white mesh, its maximum length is 25 centimeters, and its maximum girth is 15 centimeters.

Alpine porcini mushrooms grow in forests of various types, most often they are found under oaks and birch. They are distributed throughout the temperate forest zone of the Russian Federation. Alpine porcini mushrooms bear fruit from June to October.

White birch mushroom has a white, grayish, beige or light brown cap, up to 15 centimeters in diameter. Its shape is semicircular at first, and then becomes almost sprawling. The skin of the cap is wrinkled or smooth, the cap is slippery in wet weather. The color of the tubes is first white, and later light yellow and greenish yellow. The pulp is dense, white. It has a pleasant mushroom smell and taste.The leg is flat, barrel-shaped, widened towards the base, up to 12 centimeters long and up to 5 centimeters in diameter. The color of the leg is light brown, its surface is covered with a white mesh.

White birch mushrooms are common throughout the forest zone of the Russian Federation, where birches grow. In some places they are quite numerous. They grow in forests, pastures and forest belts. These fungi form mycorrhiza with birches. They choose the northern regions, but do not grow in the tundra zone. Porcini birch mushrooms bear fruit from June to November.

Lemon yellow white mushroom has a cap up to 15 centimeters in diameter. The color of the cap in young specimens is lemon yellow, later white or ocher spots appear on the surface. And on older specimens, the caps turn dirty brown. The leg reaches 12 centimeters in length, its upper part is lighter, a white mesh is visible on a light brown or beige background.

Lemon-yellow porcini mushrooms are common in the southern and temperate forest zones of the Russian Federation. They grow in mixed and deciduous forests. They mainly live under oak and spruce trees. These mushrooms prefer light forest areas and moist soils. They bear fruit from July to October.

Types of porcini mushrooms

Look at the types of porcini mushrooms in the photo on this page with descriptions - this information will help you freely navigate in the mushroom kingdom and choose only delicious and aromatic mushrooms:

White mushroom in the photo

The Boletus edulis mushroom is edible. The cap is massive, up to 20 cm, hemispherical, fine-fiber matte, light or dark, brown or red-brown. The tubular layer (hymenophore) is separated from the cap, first white, then yellow-green. The spore powder is brown-olive. The pulp is dense, white, remains white at the cut and break. Under the skin of the cap, the color of the flesh has its shade. The leg is solid, up to 17 cm high, up to 6 cm thick, thickened at the bottom.

Grows in forests of various types. Fruiting from May to October.

An exquisite dish is porcini mushroom soup. Marinated porcini mushrooms have an unsurpassed taste. Before freezing mushrooms for the winter, they must first be boiled for 5 minutes.

The twins are not poisonous, but they have a strong unpleasant bitterness. Gall mushroom (Tyophillus felleus). Its differences from the porcini mushroom are a pink hymenophore and a relief mesh pattern on the leg. Rooting boletus (Boletus radicans) is a white-bluish cap, the flesh turns blue on the cut, the hymenophore turns blue when touched.

The healing properties of the mushroom

In addition to being used in cooking, the spikelet is widely used in folk medicine. In terms of the amount of vitamins and nutrients, this mushroom surpasses many other species. It contains antibiotics that destroy Koch's bacilli. It has analgesic, anti-inflammatory and wound healing effects. The spikelet eases the condition of a cancer patient during irradiation, when he has vomiting, weakness and pain.

The mushroom contains useful amino acids, vitamins, macro and microelements, animal starch, carbohydrates and proteins. However, vitamins PP and B2 are slightly lower in them than in other forest mushrooms.

This valuable product has beneficial properties, namely:

stimulates digestion processes;
helps to recover faster after an illness;
destroys harmful microbes;
eliminates inflammation;
restores hair;
strengthens nails;
restores the work of the heart muscles;
able to thin the blood;
relieves depression;
stimulates intellectual activity;
fights hypovitaminosis.

Infusion of porcini mushroom

Infusion from this mushroom has been used since ancient times for frostbite, wounds and inflammation, pain in the joints. It is necessary to apply a cloth soaked in mushroom medicine to the sore spot 2 times a day. This will help stimulate healing. The infusion is also taken orally.

Recipe:

You need to take 2 tablespoons of dried spikelets and pour them into glasses of vodka or alcohol.
The infusion should stand for 7 days in a place protected from the sun.
They drink the medicine in the morning and in the evening in a teaspoon, which is previously dissolved in 200 ml of water. The course of treatment is 3 weeks. Then you need to take a week break and drink the medicine for another 21 days.

A unique product for strengthening hair can be prepared from white birch mushroom. It is necessary to skip 1 teaspoon of dried spikelets through a meat grinder, add a little burdock oil to them and apply the resulting composition to the roots and along the entire length of the hair. After 15 minutes, the mask is washed off. This procedure should be carried out twice a week.

Dried mushrooms are also useful, from which a medicinal powder is made. It is taken 1 teaspoon three times a day with water. This should be done 30 minutes before eating.

Evaluation of the taste of bronze pain

Bronze ache is a good edible mushroom. These mushrooms are actively harvested in Spain and Italy. They are sold in European stores dried, fresh and frozen. The taste of the bronze bolt is higher than that of the porcini mushroom, therefore it is more appreciated.

The number of bronze painters

As noted, bronze paints are rare mushrooms, they are included in the Red Data Book of Denmark, the Red List of Mushrooms in Norway and the Red Data Book of Montenegro.

Other mushrooms of this genus

Boletus wonderful - an inedible representative of the bolet family. These are poisonous mushrooms, they cause gastrointestinal disorders, but the poisoning passes without complications, no deaths have been recorded.

The diameter of the fine boletus cap is 7.5-25 centimeters. Its shape is hemispherical, the surface is slightly rough. The cap color ranges from reddish to olive brown. The length of the leg is 7-15 centimeters, with a width of 10 centimeters. The shape of the leg is swollen. Its color is red-brown. The leg is decorated with a dark red mesh at the bottom.

Boletus boletus is most common in North America. They grow in mixed forests. They form mycorrhiza with conifers. They bear fruit from late summer to late autumn.

Royal boletus is an edible mushroom. The color of the cap of the royal boletus is violet-red, pink or pink-red; as a rule, it becomes paler with age. The skin is smooth, but sometimes mesh cracks can form on it.

The shape of the cap is convex at a young age, but over time it becomes cushion-shaped, or even can even reach completely flat. The diameter of the cap ranges from 6 to 15 centimeters. The length of the leg can also be up to 14 centimeters. The leg is thickened, yellow-brown in color. In its upper part there is a yellow mesh pattern.

Boletus boletus is distributed mainly in beech forests, but can grow in other deciduous forests. They are widespread in the Far East and the Caucasus. These mushrooms prefer calcareous and sandy soils.

They bear fruit from June to September. Royal boletus has high taste. They taste similar to rooted boletus. The flesh of the royal boletus is dense and fragrant. These mushrooms are suitable for all types of cooking and preservation.

Bronze boletus is valued and consumed in the same way as porcini mushroom.

Features of the view

The mushroom belongs to the Boletov family, the Borovik family. Therefore, his description often coincides with the characteristics of other representatives of this genus.

Satanic mushroom

Nevertheless, Satan has a number of individual morphological differences.

Appearance and photos

In appearance, this mushroom can be easily confused with boletus. You can assess the similarity by looking at the photo. The hat is hemispherical or pillow-shaped. Over time, it unfolds and takes on a prostrate shape. The diameter of the hat varies from 8 cm to 25 cm.

Mushroom cutaway

Some sources claim that the cap can reach up to 30 cm. Its surface is smooth or velvety, depending on the growing conditions. Most often it is dry, but can be slippery in wet weather.

The color scheme of the hat is varied:

gray-white;
gray;
dark gray;
gray with olive tint;
gray-yellow;
gray-green.

Less common are specimens with pink and olive streaks on a gray background of a hat. The leg grows up to 15 cm, its diameter is from 3 to 10 cm. Initially, it has the shape of an egg or a ball, but over time it becomes tuberous, similar to an uneven barrel or turnip. The leg is brown below, bright pink in the middle, and yellow-red above. A mesh pattern is visible over the entire surface.

The pulp of the mushroom is dense. It is often white with a yellowish tint. Sometimes there are specimens with lemon-colored pulp.

Morphology

The most striking specific feature of Satan is its chemical composition. Other representatives of the Borovik family remain white or turn blue on the cut, while the site of Satan's damage turns red. Another striking feature is the specific smell of the pulp.

Young mushrooms have a weakly pronounced spicy smell, and adults smell strongly of rotten onions. In addition, the surface of his hat is usually dry, which is not typical for most of his relatives.

Morphological features of the fungus

The satanic mushroom is classified as a tubular mushroom. Its spores are housed in short tubes under the cap. At first they have a yellow tint, but as they grow older, they change their color, becoming greenish, then brown, eventually acquiring a bright red hue. The spores are very small and roundish.

Distribution in Crimea and other areas

Satan loves the sunny edges of coniferous and deciduous forests, as well as calcareous soil. Most often it is found under oaks, lindens, chestnuts. The first representatives appear in June, and the peak of their growth occurs in July-August. At the end of September, the mushrooms disappear.

Satanic Mushroom Pulp

Satan is spread in the following places:

Southern Europe;
south of the European part of Russia;
Caucasus;
Near East;
Primorsky Krai.

Some mycologists add Crimea to the above places. Local residents confirm the presence of mushrooms in the Crimean lands. However, according to official research, they have not been recorded in Crimea. This can only be explained by the rarity of the species and its small distribution. After all, the Crimean territory is the ideal soil for this species.

Eating

Satan belongs to conditionally edible mushrooms. In its raw form, it is definitely toxic, as it contains the venom of muscarine.

Long-term heat treatment weakens the toxicity somewhat, but does not completely eliminate it.

Residents of some countries, for example, the French, Czechs, eat Satan. They are pre-soaked for 10-12 hours, and then stewed the same amount. Mycologists say that after such processing, mushrooms can only cause an upset stomach.

Eating the mushroom

But is it worth the risk of trying them? Moreover, after such a long cooking, the taste is very doubtful. And the nasty putrid smell during cooking only intensifies, acquiring a sickening character.

Cultivation of porcini mushrooms

Is it possible to grow a porcini mushroom on your own plot? They say yes. Moreover, there is abundant evidence of successful experiments.

In all cases, one very important circumstance matters. The fact is that porcini mushrooms belong to mycorrhizal fungi: without fusion of the mycorrhiza with the roots of the tree, a "fungus root" (mycorrhiza) cannot form

Therefore, the fruiting body (i.e. the mushroom itself) will not grow. You can't do without a tree.

The time-tested method of growing boletus gives good results on "plantations" where there are living trees (birches, oaks, pines, etc.) at the age of 10 - 30 years. Overripe porcini mushrooms are kept in cold rain (well) water for 24 hours. The container must be taken from a wooden one. The mushrooms are taken out, and the slurry is filtered through cheesecloth. It is watered with a moistened litter under the trees.Further care is reduced to ensuring that the earth remains moderately moist. Drought or waterlogging can ruin everything.

There are other options as well. This is planting pieces of mycelium neatly carved in the forest under the corresponding trees. Sometimes, fragments of caps or pieces of a dried tubular part are used. "Planting material" is spread on a slightly moistened bed of grass or moss. The more the conditions for the growth of porcini mushrooms in nature and “on the plantation” coincide, the more chances to grow them. Success is influenced by the species of nearby trees, the composition and structure of the soil, the quality of the forest floor, etc.

I know mushroom pickers who regularly collect porcini mushrooms from their own "plantations". True, they were lucky: some of their sites are occupied by mature forest trees.

Growing porcini mushrooms from caps

First, you will need to collect caps from forest mushrooms, and always mature, and even better overripe. The diameter of the caps should be at least 10-15 cm. Also remember under which trees the mushrooms grew, whose caps you plucked, then they will need to be planted under the same trees.

The collected caps are carefully separated from the legs, soaked in water for 24 hours. (alcohol can be added to the water, 3-5 tablespoons per 10 liters).
After a day, it is necessary to carefully cover the soaked mushroom caps until a homogeneous mass, then strain it through a layer of gauze, separating the aqueous solution with mushroom spores from the mushroom tissue.
The place for planting porcini mushrooms to prepare is identical to that already described by us in the first option.
Then water with spores must be spilled onto a fertile pillow, stirring occasionally with a water solution.

Caring for a mushroom meadow consists in its, although not frequent, but regular and abundant watering.

Description of white spruce mushroom

At a young age, the shape of the cap of the white spruce mushroom is convex, but by old age it becomes practically prostrate. Its diameter is 5-40 centimeters at different stages of growth.

The surface of the cap is both smooth and wrinkled, and in dry weather it can crack. At the edges, the cap is thin-lined or fibrous-scaly. After rain, the surface becomes slimy, and in hot weather it is dull and always cool.

The color of the cap is light or dark brown, it can be white-brown, more rarely red-brown or yellow-brown, but the cinnamon tint is always pronounced. Often the color is uneven, with lighter edges, and sometimes a narrow yellowish or white rim is visible. The pulp is strong, white at a young age, later it becomes yellowish.

The leg of the white spruce mushroom is even, massive, barrel-shaped. Its length varies from 2 to 25 centimeters, and the girth is 2-15 centimeters. The color of the leg is whitish, brownish, and sometimes reddish. Sometimes the cap and leg are solid, but there is a white mesh on the leg.

Places of growth of white spruce mushrooms

White spruce mushrooms grow in conifers, mixed and deciduous forests. These fungi are capable of forming mycorrhiza with 20 species of species, but prefer oak, birch, pine and spruce.

Porcini spruce mushrooms are common throughout the temperate forest zone of the Russian Federation. The fruiting period is May-November.

Similar species

White spruce mushrooms do not have poisonous counterparts, so they can be collected without fear. Of the inedible species, there is a similarity with the gall fungus, which is also called bitterness. You can distinguish gorchak by the pinkish, and not old, tubes, as well as by the bitter pulp.

Many related species are very similar to the white spruce mushroom, for example, oak and pine porcini mushrooms, but the taste of these species is identical, so you can not distinguish between them.

Spreading

White mushroom is widespread in the forest zone around the world, except Australia, mainly growing in birch forests, pine forests, oak forests and spruce forests.

The main areas of distribution of porcini mushrooms: almost all of Europe, and North and Central America, North and South Africa, in Asia it is known in Turkey, Transcaucasia, northern Mongolia, China, Japan, in all regions of Siberia and the Far East, sometimes it can be found in Syria and Lebanon on old oak stumps. It was brought to South America (Uruguay) with plantings of mycorrhizal trees. It grows in Iceland and the British Isles.

The white mushroom is one of the species that penetrates the arctic zone the most; only a few boletus trees go further north. In Russia, it occurs from the Kola Peninsula to the Caucasus and from the western borders to Chukotka, but it is unevenly distributed. In the tundra it is very rare, it is known only in the mountain tundra of the Khibiny, Kamchatka and Chukotka, in the forest-tundra it is also rare, but in the northern taiga, directly adjacent to the forest-tundra, it can already be found very abundantly. The abundance of porcini mushroom decreases in the direction from west to east from the European part of Russia to Eastern Siberia, while in the Far East it can be found abundantly. In the forest-steppe, its abundance sharply decreases, but the fungus completely disappears only when it moves to the steppe zone. In mountain forests, it is less common and usually less abundant than in plains.

The porcini mushroom is considered a light-loving species, but in some forests it can also be found in highly shaded places, under dense crowns. It has been established that in harvest years the number of mushrooms does not depend on the illumination, and under unfavorable conditions (waterlogging of the soil, low daily temperature), mushrooms appear mainly in open, well-heated areas.

The optimum fruiting temperature in July and August is 15-18 ° C, in September 8-10 ° C. Large fluctuations in day and night temperatures and a large amount of precipitation hinder the development of fruit chalk. The optimal meteorological conditions for the mass appearance of the porcini mushroom are considered to be short-term thunderstorms and warm nights with fog.

The porcini mushroom is well adapted to any type of soil, except for marsh and peaty, growing singly or in groups. It grows best in well-drained but not waterlogged soils.