Dusky Bolete

Porphyrellus porphyrosporus

Deciduous and mixed forests. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies massive, fleshy, gloomy-looking. Cap grows up to 12-15 cm across, matt, velvety, dirty blackish-greyish-brown, olive-brown; when old cracked, the flesh in the cracks greenish; the margins turn greenish when pressed. Tubes dirty brownish; pores of young mushrooms greyish, later greenish-brownish, eventually blackish-brown. Stem 5-10 (12) cm long and up to 3.5 cm thick, the colour of the cap, fibrous. Characteristic features: flesh greyish, turning reddish when broken or cut, later acquiring a greenish-bluish or even black tinge, with a rather nasty smell and taste. Grows singly, rare. Protected.