Boletellus emodensis – Facesoffungi number: FoF 3141

Boletellus emodensis (Berk.) Singer, Annales Mycologici 40: 19 (1942)

Facesoffungi number: FoF 3141

Basidiomata (small to medium-sized. Pileus 3–9 cm in diam., convex to applanate; surface smooth and dry, purple to dull red colour, fading to pale brown with age, finely tomentose when young, then peeling or cracking into large squamules; at first margin extended into a fake veil and covering the pores, then radially splitting, appendiculate with fake veil remnants; context 0.5–1.2 cm thick in the pileus center, yellowish, strongly and rapidly turn to blue when bruised or injured. Hymenophore poroid, yellowish, strongly and rapidly turn to blue when bruised or injured; pores 0.1–0.2 cm diam., simple and angular. Stipe central, 6–8 × 0.7–1 cm, cylindrical, firm, solid; surface concolorous with the pileus, dry, fibrous but apex yellowish; context yellow, strongly and rapidly turn to blue when bruised or injured. Annulus not present. Basidia 33–55 × 10–18 μm, clavate, colourless to yellowish-brown in KOH, mostly 4-spored. Basidiospores 18–24 × 8–11 μm, Q = 1.9–2.8, Q_m = 2.28, yellowish-brown in KOH, elongate-ellipsoid with longitudinal ridges, 6–9 ridges visible in lateral view; ridges up to 0.9–1.6 μm in height. Tube trama made up of thin-walled, colourless to yellowish hyphae 5–13 μm in width. Cheilocystidia 46–69 × 10–18 μm, thin-walled, subfusiform to fusiform, colourless or yellowish-brown in KOH. Pleurocystidia 68–92 × 10–20 μm, subfusiform to fusiform, colourless to yellowish-brown in KOH. Pileipellis is an intricate trichoderm composed of interwoven, thin-walled, yellowish-brown hyphae; terminal cells 18–36 × 6–12 μm, with round to obtuse apex. Pileal trama composed of thin walled, colourless to yellowish hyphae 4–16 μm diam. Clamps absent.

Habit and habitat: Solitary or gregarious on soil, tree stumps or rotten wood in forests dominated by Fagaceae

Distribution: originally described from India; then reported from southeast Asia, east Asia and Australia, this is the first report from Sri Lanka with morphological characteristics and phylogenetic data.

Specimens examined: SRI LANKA, Kandy District, Hanthana Mountains Range, 10 June 2012, Samantha C. Karunarathna (MFLU 12-1214, new record). GenBank number ITS:KY649458.

Notes: Boletellus emodensis is characterized by its purple to dull red pileus, yellowish context in both pileus and stipe that rapidly and strongly turn to blue when injured or bruised, ridged basidiospores with fine striations on the ridges can be observed under the high power of light microscope. This is the first report of B. emodensis with the molecular phylogenetic confirmation from Sri Lanka.