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Toxic☠️ To avoid

🍄 Satan's Bolete

Rubroboletus satanas · Boletaceae

🌳 Temperate Europe🫒 Mediterranean
🧠 To remember it“Pale cap, bloody pores” — never assume a whitish bolete with red pores is edible.
Satan's Bolete — Rubroboletus satanas

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

A large, robust bolete found in warm, calcareous forests, easily recognized by its pale, almost whitish cap contrasting with bright red pores and a bulbous stem that is also tinged with red and often reticulated. Toxic raw or undercooked, it causes severe gastrointestinal syndrome. While rarely fatal, it frequently leads to hospitalization, and confusing it with other edible red-pored boletes means you need formal expertise before eating.

  1. whitish to pale grey-beige cap, fleshy and massive, clearly contrasting with the rest of the mushroom
  2. blood-red to bright orange pores under the cap (rarely yellow)
  3. stout stem, swollen into a bulb, tinged with red with a distinct network (reticulation)
  4. flesh bruising slightly blue when cut, unpleasant smell as it ages
Sizecap 10-25 cm, stem 8-15 cm, very fleshy
Floweringsummer-autumn
Habitatwarm-climate deciduous forests on calcareous soil, often under oak trees

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Edible red-pored boletes (scarletina bolete cooked, etc.) (Boletaceae à pores rouges)some red-pored boletes are edible when well cooked, others are toxic when raw

To tell them apart: identifying red-pored boletes requires formal mycological expertise: exact cap color, intensity of blue staining when cut, and smell are all criteria that must be combined—none is sufficient on its own for an amateur

Bay bolete (Imleria badia)toxic

To tell them apart: Satan's bolete has a greyish-whitish cap (never bay-brown), a bright red stem with an orange network, and an unpleasant smell as it ages; the blue staining of Satan's bolete is instant and much more intense

Penny bun / Porcini (Boletus edulis)toxic (severe digestive trouble, sometimes serious)

To tell them apart: Satan's bolete has a greyish-whitish cap, a bright red stem marked with an orange network, red tubes and pores, and above all, flesh that turns blue instantly and intensely when cut — penny buns never turn blue; Satan's bolete also gives off an unpleasant smell as it ages

☠️ What kills

nomThermolabile gastrointestinal toxins (partially destroyed by prolonged cooking, but eating the mushroom is still strongly advised against even cooked)
dose letale estimeerarely fatal in healthy adults, but frequently causes hospitalizations; especially dangerous raw or undercooked (approx)
delai1 to 3 hours
symptomesviolent vomiting and diarrhea, abdominal pain, sometimes accompanied by sweating and dizziness
antidoteno specific antidote; rehydration and symptomatic treatment
morts documenteesexceptional in healthy adults; the main risk remains severe dehydration in vulnerable individuals (approx)

First steps : Call a poison control center if you experience digestive troubles after consuming an unconfirmed red-pored bolete. Do not induce vomiting. Drink plenty of water to compensate for fluid loss and keep a sample for identification.

Sources (3)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.