''Suillus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

basidiomycete Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basid ...

fungi in the family

Suillaceae The Suillaceae are a family of fungi in the order Boletales (suborder Suillineae), containing the boletus-like ''Suillus'', the small truffle-like ''Truncocolumella'', as well as the monotypic genus '' Psiloboletinus''. As of 2008, there are 54 ...

and order

Boletales The Boletales are an order of Agaricomycetes containing over 1300 species with a diverse array of fruiting body types. The boletes are the best known members of this group, and until recently, the Boletales were thought to only contain boletes. ...

. Species in the genus are associated with trees in the pine family (

Pinaceae The Pinaceae (), or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, Pinyon_pine, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is incl ...

), and are mostly distributed in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

locations in the Northern Hemisphere, although some species have been introduced to the Southern Hemisphere.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Suillus'' was first defined by

Pier Antonio Micheli Pier Antonio Micheli (11 December 1679 – 1 January 1737) was a noted Italian botanist, professor of botany in Pisa, curator of the Orto Botanico di Firenze, author of ''Nova plantarum genera iuxta Tournefortii methodum disposita''. He discover ...

in his 1729 work ''Nova plantarum genera'', however it is not valid as it predates the 1753 start of Linnean taxonomy. Fries sanctioned the use by British botanist

Samuel Frederick Gray Samuel Frederick Gray (10 December 1766 – 12 April 1828) was a British botanist, mycologist, and pharmacologist. He was the father of the zoologists John Edward Gray and George Robert Gray. Background He was the son of Samuel Gray, a London Se ...

in the first volume of his 1821 work ''A Natural Arrangement of British Plants''. Setting ''

Suillus luteus ''Suillus luteus'' is a bolete fungus, and the type species of the genus ''Suillus''. Commonly referred to as slippery jack or sticky bun in English-speaking countries, its names refer to the brown pileus (mycology), cap, which is characterist ...

'' as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, he described the genus as those mushrooms with a centrally placed stipe, a distinct

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

, a circular cap, and tubes that are stuck together. They have been commonly called "slippery jacks" because the cap of the

fruit body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

is sometimes slimy. The genus name is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, meaning "pig". Before 1997, the genus ''Suillus'' was considered part of the family

Boletaceae The Boletaceae are a Family (biology), family of mushroom-forming fungi, primarily characterised by small pores on the spore-bearing hymenium, hymenial surface (at the underside of the mushroom), instead of Lamella (mycology), gills as are found ...

. The genus also contains what were known as the larch boletes, several species that were described in the genus ''Fuscoboletinus''. These grow in association with larch or tamarack (''

Larix Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

'' ssp.). Molecular analysis has shown them to not be a monophyletic group and to be mixed in with the ''Suillus'' species.

Description

Structures of the fungi in this genus in common with other members of the order

include the presence of a cylindrical stipe,

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, soft

flesh Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, ...

and tubular

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

. Specific characteristics common to most species in ''Suillus'' are the

cap cuticle The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fruit body. It covers the trama, the fleshy tissue of the fruit body. The pileipellis is more or less synonymous with the cuticle, but the cuticle generally describes th ...

which is often slimy and sticky when moist, the presence of darkly staining, clustered, sterile cells called

cystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are o ...

that give the tube mouths or the stipe surface a speckled or glandular appearance, spores that are usually cinnamon brown or chocolate brown in mass, and obligate

mycorrhiza A mycorrhiza (; , mycorrhiza, or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant's rhizosphere, the plant root system and its surroundings. Mycorrhizae play ...

l relationships primarily with members of the

, especially with members of the genera ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

'', ''

'' and ''

Pseudotsuga ''Pseudotsuga'' is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Common names for species in the genus include Douglas fir, Douglas-fir, Douglas tree, Oregon pine and Bigcone spruce. ''Pseudotsuga menzies ...

''. Intra-genus variation may be demonstrated by differences in colour and ornamentation of the cap cuticle, flesh, pores and stipe, the presence of a

partial veil In mycology, a partial veil (also called an inner veil, to differentiate it from the "outer", or universal veil) is a temporary structure of tissue found on the fruiting bodies of some Basidiomycota, basidiomycete fungus, fungi, typically agarics. ...

in immature forms and annuli thereafter, pore shape and distribution, as well as habitat. The cap cuticle is dark brown in '' S. brevipes'', and yellow in '' S. grevillei''. '' S. granulatus'' has a smooth cap cuticle, while that of '' S. lakei'' is finely scaly. The pores are bright yellow in '' S. collinitus'', cinnamon in '' S. variegatus'' and grey in '' S. viscidus''; in shape they are round in '' S. luteus'' and angular in '' S. bovinus''. The flesh is white to yellow in '' S. luteus'', while it is pallid in ''S. variegatus'' with a tendency to turn blue when exposed to air. Young ''S. luteus'' and ''S. grevillei'' bear partial veils whose remnants remain as annuli hanging from the stipe; in ''S. granulatus'' the stipe is bare. ''S. viscidus'' and ''S. grevillei'' occur under

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

(''Larix'') only, while '' S. sibiricus'' is restricted to a few species of 5-needled pine (''Pinus'').

Habitat and distribution

Species of ''Suillus'' are found all over the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

where members of the tree family

can be found. Although a few species are distributed in tropical regions (usually mountainous areas), most are limited to

areas. Some species have been introduced adventitiously with pine trees in pine

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s outside the natural area of Pinaceae. Some ''Suillus'' species have entered regional

red list The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological sp ...

s as endangered or vulnerable. Seven European countries have listed '' S. sibiricus''. Individual countries have also listed other species, including '' S. flavidus'', '' S. tridentinus'', '' S. collinitus'', '' S. plorans'' and ''S. lakei''.

Uses

Some ''Suillus'' species are

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from " eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

and are highly esteemed, particularly in

Slavic countries The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and No ...

, where they are generally referred to as butter mushrooms (маслята). They are generally picked as buttons when the flesh is still firm. In some species, the slimy cap coat acts as a

purgative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

when consumed and should be removed before cooking. Species of ''Suillus'' have been associated with the term "

bolete A bolete is a type of mushroom, or fungal fruiting body. It can be identified thanks to a unique cap. On the underside of the cap there is usually a spongy surface with pores, instead of the gills typical of mushrooms. A similar pore surface i ...

", given to members of other genera bearing pores, most notably ''

Boletus ''Boletus'' is a genus of mushroom-producing fungi, comprising over 100 species. The genus ''Boletus'' was originally broadly defined and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, essentially containing all fungi with hymenial pores instead of gills. ...

''. Some species can be used to make

mushroom dye Mushrooms can be used to create color Dye#Synthetic dyes, dyes via color-extraction with a solvent (often ammonia) as well as particulation of raw material. The Sarcodon imbricatus, shingled hedgehog mushroom and related species contain blue-green ...

s, like '' S. americanus'', '' S. cothurnatus'', '' S. granulatus'', and '' S. luteus''.

Species

Index Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. As of 2015, the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and th ...

lists 98 valid species of ''Suillus'': *'' S. abietinus'' *'' S. acerbus'' *'' S. acidus'' *'' S. albidipes'' *'' S. albivelatus'' (edible) *'' S. alboflocculosus'' *'' S. alkaliaurantians'' *'' S. amabilis'' *'' S. americanus'' – chicken-fat suillus *'' S. anomalus'' *'' S. appendiculatus'' *'' S. bellinii'' *'' S. borealis'' *'' S. boudieri'' *'' S. bovinoides'' *'' S. bovinus'' – Jersey cow mushroom *'' S. bresadolae'' *'' S. brevipes'' – short-stalked suillus *'' S. brunnescens'' *'' S. caerulescens'' *'' S. californicus'' *'' S. cavipes'' *'' S. cavipoides'' – China *'' S. cembrae'' *'' S. chiapasensis'' *'' S. collarius'' *'' S. collinitus'' *'' S. cothurnatus'' *'' S. decipiens'' *'' S. flavidus'' (also known as ''S. umbonatus'') *'' S. flavogranulatus'' *'' S. flavoluteus'' *'' S. flavus'' *'' S. furfuraceus'' *'' S. fuscotomentosus'' *'' S. glandulosipes'' *'' S. gloeous'' – China *'' S. granulatus'' – dotted-stalk suillus *'' S. grevillei'' – larch suillus, larch bolete *'' S. grisellus'' *'' S. guzmanii'' *'' S. helenae'' *'' S. hirtellus'' *'' S. hololeucus'' *'' Suillus holomaculatus'' – Mauritius *'' S. intermedius'' *'' S. jacuticus'' *'' S. kaibabensis'' *'' S. kunmingensis'' – China *'' S. lakei'' – western painted suillus *'' S. lapponicus'' – Finland *'' S. lithocarpi-sequoiae'' *'' S. lutescens'' *'' S. luteus'' – slippery Jack (many ''Suillus'' species are called by this common name) *'' S. marginielevatus'' – Pakistan *'' S. mediterraneensis'' *'' S. megaporinus'' *'' S. monticola'' *'' S. neoalbidipes'' *'' S. obscurus'' – Greece *'' S. occidentalis'' *'' S. ochraceoroseus'' *'' S. pallidiceps'' *'' S. pinorigidus'' *'' S. placidus'' – white suillus *'' S. plorans'' *'' S. ponderosus'' *'' S. pseudoalbivelatus'' – Dominican Republic *'' S. pseudobrevipes'' *'' S. punctipes'' *'' S. pungens'' – pungent suillus *'' S. quiescens'' – USA *'' S. reticulatus'' *'' S. riparius'' *'' S. roseoporus'' *'' S. roseovelatus'' – Greece *'' S. ruber'' *'' S. rubricontextus'' – China *'' S. rubropunctatus'' *'' S. salmonicolor'' *'' S. serotinus'' *'' S. sibiricus'' *'' S. spraguei'' – painted suillus *'' S. subacerbus'' – New Zealand *'' S. subalpinus'' *'' S. subaureus'' *'' S. subluteus'' – slippery Jill *'' S. subolivaceus'' *'' S. subreticulatus'' – China *'' S. subvariegatus'' *'' S. tomentosus'' – tomentose suillus *'' S. triacicularis'' – India *'' S. tridentinus'' *'' S. variegatus'' – velvet bolete *'' S. viscidus'' – sticky bolete *'' S. volcanalis'' *'' S. wasatchicus'' *'' S. weaverae''

Notes

References

*Bessette AE, Roody WC & Bessette AR. (2000). ''North American boletes: A color guide to the fleshy pored mushrooms.'' China: Syracuse UP. 399 pp. * *Smith AH, Smith HV & Weber NS. (1981). ''How to know the non-gilled mushrooms.'' Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown. 324 pp. * ''National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms'', Knopf, 1981.

External links

Genus ''Suillus'' at Mushroom Expert.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1338220 Boletales genera Taxa named by Samuel Frederick Gray Taxa described in 1821