Boletus orovillus

Pileus
Cap 8-15 cm broad, convex, becoming plano-convex; margin at first incurved, then decurved, often overlapping the tubes, even to wavy, sometimes slightly upturned at maturity; surface sticky when moist, otherwise dry, glabrous or with faint appressed fibrils, occasionally areolate; color when fresh, bright sulphur-yellow, fading to dull yellow, the disc often tinged pale brown; cuticle peelable from the underlying context, the latter up to 2 cm thick; context relatively soft, yellowish, young material quickly bluing when cut or injured, in age bluing erratically or not at all, sometimes vinaceous-pink above the tube layer; odor and taste mild.

Hymenophore
Tubes 0.5-1.0 cm long, yellowish-olive, bluing when injured; pores angular, at maturity, approximately 1 per mm, yellow when young, becoming ochraceous-brown to dull reddish-brown, dark-brown in age; young pores readily bluing.

Stipe
Stipe 5-9 cm long, 2.5-4.5 cm broad, solid, fleshy, equal, clavate, ventricose, or tapered to a pointed base; surface of apex smooth, sometimes ridged by tube scars, not reticulate, yellowish, occasionally tinged reddish-brown, elsewhere smooth to appressed fibrillose, yellowish with brownish to reddish-brown tints, discoloring dark- brown where handled, the base yellowish with adhering yellowish-brown mycelium; context usually bluing when cut, but in age erratically so or not at all; partial veil absent.

Spores
Spores, 5.5-6.5 x 3.5-4.0 µm, elliptical, smooth, inamyloid. Spore print olive-brown.

Habitat
Solitary or in small clusters, growing at or near the base of Monterey pine stumps; fruiting in late summer.

Edibility
Unknown.

Comments
This bright yellow bolete is a rare and striking find. Unusual for boletes in our area, it appears before the fall rains, perhaps utilizing moisture from the dying roots of Monterey pine stumps near which it fruits. Thiers originally described this species as having red pores, but later amended the description to cover a variant that has yellowish to yellowish-brown pores. Local material fits the amended description. An interesting aspect of this mushroom is that fresh material bruises blue quickly, but at maturity, the bluing reaction becomes faint or nonexistent.