#9 Strobilomyces sp

This interesting fungus from family Boletaceae is a Strobilomyces species, most probably Strobilomyces floccopus. It is sometimes referred to as The Old Man of the Forest. Boletes produce their spores in pores (instead of gills) which are tubes forming a honeycomb surface of holes on the underside of the fungus.

White pores and inturned margin of the 4cm cap

I have only found two specimens, both in rainforest, one growing on a dead log, the other in soil. The cap is convex with an inturned margin which can hold remnants of a partial veil, and is covered in dense woolly purple/black scales over white. The cap can be up to 110mm, but I have only seen it up to 40mm.

Pores are white, darkening with age, and staining orange/brown when bruised, eventually turning black. The stem is purplish, shaggy and reticulate (raised ridges). The solid white flesh of the stalk and cap also turn orange, then black, when cut.

Pores attach to the stem in a sinuate fashion

Short shaggy scales of the cap

I have not taken a spore print, but it is recorded that the spores are blackish brown. Here is a site with additional information on this species along with the only species it is likely to be confused with, Strobilomyces confusus.

The white pores have turned black, the white flesh orange before blackening.

My sightings of Strobilomyces floccopus

[This will be updated with more sightings]

Barrington Tops National Park NSW - singly and solitary on dead wood and soil - Apr.

A young Strobilomyces floccopus wet from rain