Ruby Bolete

Ruby Bolete is a small, red capped, blue staining mushroom. It occurs in Europe, in the United States east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains, in southern Quebec and Ontario Canada, and in Mexico. It reaches the western extent of one part of its range in eastern Minnesota. It is found in summer and fall in deciduous woodlands, at woodland edges, in parks, and in gardens. It grows on the ground, alone, scattered, or in groups (gregarious) but not clustered. It has a mutually beneficial relationship (mycorrhizal) with the tiny rootlets of oaks and other hardwood trees, absorbing sugars and amino acids while helping the tree absorb water.

The cap is 1″ to 2⅜″ (2.5 to 6.0 cm) in diameter. It is convex at first and bright but dark pinkish-red. This is the feature that gives the mushroom its common name. It often has a thin yellow or whitish band around the margin. The upper surface is dry and is covered with minute velvety hairs. As it ages it becomes broadly convex to almost flat and hairless, and the color becomes dark, dirty, pinkish-red or pinkish. On mature specimens the upper surface is finely cracked.

The stalk is firm, solid, 13⁄16″ to 2¾″ (3 to 7 cm) long, longer than the cap is wide, and ⅛″ to ⅜″ (4 to 10 mm) thick. It is tapered at the base and sometimes flared at the top. The surface is not covered with a network of fine ridges (reticulate). When young the stalk is pinkish to red for most of its length, yellow just near the top, and the surface usually has numerous fine red dots (punctate). It darkens as it ages.

The pore surface is yellow when young, becoming dull olive-yellow as it ages. It quickly stains dark blue when bruised. There are 1 to 3 pores per millimeter. The pore tubes are up to ¼″ (7 mm) deep.

The flesh in the cap is whitish. It slowly stains slightly blue when sliced. It is edible but it has a soapy taste, and like other boletes, it is often infested with maggots. The flesh of the stalk is mostly yellow, pale yellow just at the top. It has numerous, tiny, bright red or carrot orange dots near the base. This may require a hand lens to see and is visible only on young specimens. On older specimens the flesh at the base deteriorates and discolors.

The spore print is olive-brown.

Deciduous woodlands, woodland edges, parks, and gardens

Oaks and other hardwoods

Summer and fall

Sources

24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 7/15/2025).

Hortiboletus rubellus (Ruby Bolete) 4k
The wonderful world of mycology

Hortiboletus rubellus (Моховик красный), July 1, 2021
Грибы БАК - Mushrooms of the LHC

Crveni baršunovac - Hortiboletus rubellus
Nikola Lačković

Location: Klickitat St, Big Lake, MN 55309

Location: Freeborn County

found by our chicken coop