page_title: Boletus curtisii
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Boletus curtisii / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the underside (pore surface) of the bolete fungus Boletus curtisii Berk. Specimen found in Cortadura, Veracruz, Mexico.
context_page_description: Boletus curtisii is a species of fungus in the family Boletaceae. It produces small- to medium-sized fruit bodies with a convex cap up to 9.5 cm wide atop a slender stem that can reach a length of 12 cm. In young specimens, the cap and stem are bright golden yellow, although the color dulls to brownish when old. Both the stem and cap are slimy or sticky when young. On the underside of the cap are small circular to angular pores. The mushroom is edible, but not appealing. It is found in eastern and southern North America, where it grows in a mycorrhizal association with hardwood and conifer trees. Once classified as a species of Pulveroboletus, the yellow color of B. curtisii is a result of pigments chemically distinct from those responsible for the yellow coloring of Pulveroboletus.
context_section_description: The cap is 3–9.5 cm (1.2–3.7 in) wide, and initially obtuse to convex in shape before becoming broadly convex to nearly flat when mature. The cap margin has a narrow band of sterile tissue that in young fruit bodies is curved inwards. The cap surface is somewhat sticky when fresh, smooth, and bright yellow to orange-yellow, sometimes with brownish tints or whitish areas in age. The whitish flesh does not change color when exposed to air, and has no distinctive odor or taste. On the underside of the cap, the pore surface is initially whitish to buff or pale yellow, but becomes duller and darker at maturity, often depressed near the stem in age. Unlike some other boletes, B. curtisii does not turn blue when bruised or injured. The pores are circular to angular, and there are 2–3 per mm; the tubes are 6–12 mm deep. Young fruit bodies usually have droplets of golden yellow liquid on the pore surface (sometimes abundantly so), although this is rarely observed in older specimens.
  The stem is 6–12 cm (2.4–4.7 in) long, 0.6–1.3 cm (0.2–0.5 in) thick, and roughly equal in width throughout. Its surface is sticky and glutinous when fresh, somewhat scurfy near the apex (covered with loose scales) but smooth below. It is pale yellow to yellow down to the base, which is sheathed with a cottony white mycelium. The stem can be either solid or hollow. The mushroom lacks a partial veil and a ring. The spore print is olive-brown. The mushroom is edible, but not appealing.
  Spores are 9.5–17 by 4–6 μm, ellipsoid to somewhat ventricose (inflated on one side), smooth, and yellowish. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are four-spored, measuring 25–32 by 6–10.8 μm. The cystidia lining the inside of the tubes are shaped like setae (i.e., thick walled and thorn-like) and have dimensions of 43–86 by 6.5–11 μm. All hyphae lack clamp connections.
caption: View of the cap underside, showing the inrolled margin, small white pores, and droplets of golden yellow liquid.
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