Rubroboletus satanas (formerly Boletus satanas), commonly known as Satan's Bolete, is a fleshy bolete with a smooth, bun-shaped cap that is almost white. It can be identified by its orange to blood-red pores and prominent yellow to blood-red net pattern. Additionally, it has a stout, yellow to red stem.

Cap compact, at first it is hemispheric with an inrolled margin, later flattening in the shape of a pad, and in older specimens, it is bent irregularly. The pileus at first greyish white, later more greenish ochre or leather colour. The surface of the cap is finely tomentose, later smooth, and often slightly sticky in wet weather. Pores are small, circular, and red, sometimes blood-red, but orange at the margin. The free to slightly adnate tubes are yellow then olive, blue were cut. Stem yellow background covered with a hexagonal close-meshed net that starts bright red and turns dark blood-red. Often very bulbous and usually wider than it is long. When young almost spherical. Spore print olivaceous brown.

Microscopic Features: The spores are subfusiform, measuring 9.5-15 x 4.5-7µm.

Note: In North America, another bolete known as Satan's Bolete, with red pores and red stems, is sometimes referred to as Boletus satanas. The European species is unlikely to be found in America, but a similar bolete called Rubroboletus eastwoodiae, also known as Satan's Bolete, does exist there.

Rubroboletus satanas on the www.first-nature.com web site.

Photos by Holger Krisp and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.