Leccinellum lepidum

Leccinellum lepidum is a species of bolete in the family Boletaceae. Originally described as Boletus lepidus in 1965, the fungus has gone through controversial taxonomic treatments over the years and was subsequently transferred to genus Krombholziella in 1985, to genus Leccinum in 1990, and to genus Leccinellum in 2003. It is the sister-species of Leccinellum corsicum, with which it had been erroneously synonymised by some authors in the past. Like other species of Boletaceae, it has tubes and pores instead of gills in its hymenial (fertile) surface and produces large, fleshy fruit bodies up to 20 cm across. Fruit bodies have the tendency to stain orange, violaceous grey and eventually blackish brown when handled or when the flesh is exposed to the air. Native to southern Europe, L. lepidum is abundantly present throughout the Mediterranean, growing in mycorrhizal symbiosis with various species of oak (Quercus), particularly evergreen members of the "Ilex" group. Despite its southern ......read more on Wikipedia.