Community find

Bicolor Bolete

Baorangia bicolor

Group

bolete

Spore print

Olive-brown

Size

Cap diameter ranges from 5 to 15 cm; stipe length 5 to 10 cm and width 1 to 3 cm.

Season

Typically fruits from early summer through autumn (June to October).

Habitat

Commonly found growing on the ground in deciduous forests, particularly associated with oak trees.

Distribution

Widely distributed throughout eastern North America, from Canada south to Florida and west to the Great Plains.

Key characteristics

Features a brick-red to rose-pink cap with a yellow pore surface that stains blue slowly or not at all when bruised. The stem is yellow at the top and reddish towards the base.

Fruiting body

Cap is convex to broadly convex, dry, finely velvety when young, becoming smoother; color ranges from deep red to pinkish-red. The hymenophore consists of yellow pores that are fairly small. The stipe is solid, thick, yellow at the apex and reddish elsewhere, often with a slightly club-shaped base.

How to recognise it

Look for the contrasting red cap and yellow pores, the characteristic yellow/red bicolor stem, and the relatively slow, faint blue bruising reaction on the yellow pore surface compared to more reactive lookalikes.

Look-alikes

Hortiboletus campestris (smaller, different bruising), Boletus sensibilis (stains blue instantly and intensely), and various members of the Butyriboletus genus.

Ecological role

Mycorrhizal, forming a symbiotic relationship with the root systems of hardwood trees like oaks.

Notes

This species was previously classified in the genus Boletus before being moved to Baorangia based on molecular phylogenetic studies. It is one of the most common red-and-yellow boletes in eastern North American forests.