His Majesty, the King

After many checks in both deciduous and coniferous spots that I know, the king finally showed up. The King Bolete (Boletus Edulis) usually comes in several fruiting during the season, but this year these are the first I found. The spot was in deciduous woods, beech and birch grove surrounded by mixed woods. The majority of mushrooms were growing on the North slope of the medium size hill. I would like to point out that bulk of my collections of King Bolete come from coniferous woods, more specifically spruce groves.


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I did find fair number of specimens in good shape, indicating good match with mushrooming window.   The damage on the some of the mushrooms was done by slugs, and some were already wormy and soft and therefore left to finish reproductive cycle.




[caption id="attachment_2601" align="alignnone" width="663"]DSCN5680 Example of intact specimen (right) and slug damage on cap and stalks on the other three specimens[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2605" align="alignnone" width="663"]DSCN5675 Almost pristine pair with visible reticulation on the stalk[/caption]

This beautiful experience was somewhat diminished by return of the heath wave to Southern Ontario, with temperatures in 30°C and humidex above 40°C. Not overly pleasant to roam through woods under this conditions! I ended up with modest crop:

DSCN5704

For the record, more than 50% of the mushrooms in the picture was discarded as too buggy or wormy. As the season progresses in the colder days, the bug situation will improve..

[caption id="attachment_2624" align="alignnone" width="663"]DSCN5707 Linda evaluating quality of my finds[/caption]

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