Gyroporus cyanescens

[ Basidiomycetes > Boletales > Gyroporaceae > Gyroporus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

If you were to blow on it hard, Gyroporus cyanescens just might bruise blue. This easily recognized mushroom is found under hardwoods in eastern North America. Its straw yellow colors and brittle consistency, together with its strong bluing reactions and yellow spore print, separate Gyroporus cyanescens from other boletes.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods; growing alone or scattered, usually in sandy soil, especially in disturbed ground (roadbeds, etc.); summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 4-12 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex or, sometimes, nearly flat in age; dry; coarsely rough or almost matted-scaly; straw colored or paler; bruising greenish yellow, then blue.

Pore Surface: White to yellowish; bruising greenish yellow, then blue; 1-2 pores per mm; tubes to 10 mm deep.

Stem: 4-10 cm long; 1-2.5 cm thick; more or less equal, or swollen; brittle; soon hollowing; colored like the cap or slightly paler; not reticulate; textured like the cap, or smoother in age; bruising greenish yellow, then blue.

Flesh: White to pale yellow; brittle; bruising greenish yellow, then blue on exposure.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: Not recorded.

Spore Print: Pale yellow.

Microscopic Features: Spores 8-10 x 5-6 µ; smooth; elliptical.

REFERENCES: (Bulliard, 1788) Quélet, 1886. (Fries, 1821; Saccardo, 1888; Coker & Beers, 1943; Singer, 1945; Snell & Dick, 1970; Smith & Thiers, 1971; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1981; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Both, 1993; Barron, 1999; Bessette, Roody & Bessette, 2000; Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006; Kuo, 2007; Binion et al., 2008.) Herb. Kuo 09029402, 09149701, 09130401.

Gyroporus cyanescens var. violaceotinctus differs from var. cyanescens, described above, by bruising instantly violet blue, without passing through a stage of greenish yellow. According to Bessette, Roody & Bessette (2000), a variety is collected in North Carolina that does not bruise at all.

Further Online Information:

Gyroporus cyanescens in Smith & Thiers, 1971
Gyroporus cyanescens at Tom Volk's Fungi
Gyroporus cyanescens at Roger's Mushrooms

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2003, March). Gyroporus cyanescens. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/gyroporus_cyanescens.html