Alt. Boletopsis grisea

Ectomycorrhizal with spruce (Picea), in rich, grassy or mossy conifer forest on mull or raw humus; late summer to autumn

Inedible — mild at first but with a soapy, slowly bitter aftertaste; rare, so leave it in place

• ▸ A fleshy, annual polypore with the habit of a bolete, but the tube layer cannot be peeled from the cap flesh
• ▸ Cap dark grey to black-brown, smooth and matt, with a faint magenta tinge when fresh; young specimens paler towards the margin
• ▸ Pore surface creamy white, taking on a pale lilac-grey or smoky grey-brown tint, bruising pinkish; pores 1–3 per mm, slightly decurrent
• ▸ All parts stain a permanent sepia-black with potassium hydroxide (KOH)
• ▸ Central to eccentric stem with a whitish apex and orange mycelium at the base; fruit bodies grow in dense clusters

Easily confused with the pine-associated Boletopsis grisea, which is silvery grey, more compact and less fragile, and prefers dry sandy heath. Despite its bolete-like look, DNA places the genus near the toothed fungi such as Sarcodon.