16
Some Interesting Fungi from Epping Forest
In 1980 the author found a large and unfamiliar
fungus of the genus Boletus on a grassy roadside
at the Lower Forest, north of Epping. An
examination of the bolete showed that it was
very close to the species B. impolitus, a fungus
which is very rarely collected in Essex, although
it is on the forest list. There were, however,
several differences between the new collection
and the latter species: the cap was a richer,
darker shade of brown (between brick-red and
tawny) and rather smooth compared with the pale
olive or yellowish-brown cap and slightly
felty surface of B. impolitus. The flesh, when
cut, turned a very pale blue after half an hour:
when treated with iodine solution (Melzer's
iodine) a perfect eye blue stain appeared (in
B. impolitus a purple-brown stain is produced).
The stem is a smooth, clear yellow without a
network or reticulation on the surface, the base
is spotted or stained with reddish-brown: in
B. impolitus the stem is also yellow but minutely
floccose-punctate (as if minutely woolly).
This collection was shortly followed by one made
by our Editor, Tony Boniface, at Curtis Mill
Green, which agreed in every respect with the
Epping record. Finally, a third collection was
found by the author, again on a roadside by the
Robin Hood roundabout, Epping Forest. So it
seems as if this fungus is well distributed, if
rather rare, or possibly just misidentified in the
past.
The question then arises as to what this species
should be called, if indeed it has been described
at all in the literature. A careful search indi-
cated that what seems to be the same fungus has
passed in recent literature under the name