page_title: Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus
section_title: Similar species
hierarchical_section_title: Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus / Description / Similar species
caption_attribution_description: English: The bolete mushroom Tylopilus violatinctus. Specimens collected in Beaver Kettle Farm, East Liverpool, Ohio, USA.
context_page_description: Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus, commonly known as the violet-grey bolete, is a fungus of the bolete family. First described in 1936, the mushroom has a disjunct distribution, and is distributed in eastern North America and Korea. The fruit bodies of the fungus are violet when young, but fade into a chocolate brown color when mature. They are solid and relatively large—cap diameter up to 15 cm, with a white pore surface that later turns pink, and a white mycelium at the base of the stem. Like most boletes of genus Tylopilus, the mushroom is inedible due to its bitter taste. A number of natural products have been identified from the fruit bodies, including unique chemical derivatives of ergosterol, a fungal sterol.
context_section_description: There are few other species that might be confused with Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus; according to one source, it "is one of the most remarkable and easily identified boletes in the USA." Tylopilus violatinctus, found under both hardwoods and conifers and known from New York to Mississippi, has an appearance similar to T. plumbeoviolaceus. It can be distinguished by a paler, lilac-colored cap that, in older specimens, is discolored rusty purple along the edge of the cap. Its spores are 7–10 by 3–4 µm. Tylopilus violatinctus was not described until 1998, so some older literature may confuse the two similar species.
  Young specimens of Tylopilus rubrobrunneus have a purplish cap, but unlike T. plumbeoviolaceous, their stems are never purple. The species Tylopilus microsporus, known only from China, is characterized by pale violet to violet cap, paler purple to purplish brown stem, and flesh color to pale purplish red pores. In addition to its different distribution, it can be distinguished from T. plumbeoviolaceus by its smaller spores. Another similar Asian species, T. obscureviolaceus, is only known from the Yaeyama Islands in southwestern Japan. It differs from T. plumbeoviolaceous in having a cap that does not fade in color to grayish or brownish when mature, shorter spores (6–7.2 by 3.3–4 µm), and other microscopic characteristics.
caption: Lookalike species Tylopilus violatinctus has a paler color.
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