Hortiboletus rubellus
Hortiboletus rubellus, commonly known as the ruby bolete, is a small, dainty, brightly coloured member of the family Boletaceae, with a reddish cap and stipe, and yellow pores. Like many boletes, it stains blue when cut or bruised. It is found in deciduous woodland in autumn. There is some question over its edibility, and it is reportedly of poor quality with a taste of soap. Until 2015, the species was known as Boletus rubellus. Taxonomy Boletus rubellus was one of the pored basidiomycetes to be placed in the genus Xerocomus in the past, and is still regarded as such in some texts. The previously commonly used binomial name Boletus versicolor (Rostk.), published in 1844, is now reduced to synonymy as it postdates the current name by German mycologist Julius Vincenz von Krombholz which dates from 1836. Its present specific epithet is Latin for "somewhat red". The fungus was transferred to the new genus Hortiboletus in 2015, following molecular evidence indicating its genetic dissimilarity to Boletus. Description It is a small bolete, with the cap being rarely over in diameter. This cap is scarlet to raspberry red when young, with a dry velvety texture, often cracking in age. The extreme margin