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Tropical black bolete

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Phlebopus portentosus, the tropical black bolete, is a wild bolete prized in Yunnan and northern Thailand. It is one of the few boletes that has been fruited in culture on grain.

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Two whole dark-capped boletes and two lengthwise halves display yellow pores and pale flesh on a warm ivory background.

What it is

Phlebopus portentosus is a bolete of the order Boletales. It was first described from Indonesia in 1951. It is reported from Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and China.

For a long time it was thought to depend on tree roots. Observations of ectomycorrhizal roots on Pinus kesiya suggest it may be facultatively ectomycorrhizal, and another study describes it as also able to live saprobically, and to form a three-way association with root mealybugs and plants.

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Food use

Sources describe it as a favourite wild mushroom in the Xishuangbanna region of Yunnan, China, and in northern Thailand.

In Indonesia, a 2024 study in the journal HAYATI reports that its use as food is not well known or popular.

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Cultivation

A 2010 study in Mycoscience reported fruiting in vitro on sorghum grain without a host plant, with basidiomes appearing about three months after inoculation. This is the basis for the species' place among the cultivated boletes.

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Safety

The sources reviewed are mainly mycology and cultivation studies and give no food-safety or nutritional data. Bolete identification is error-prone, so this record is not a guide to identifying wild mushrooms; confirm specimens with an expert and use a food-safety reference before eating.

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Places

Xishuangbanna, Yunnan

Traditional use · Region evidence

Described as a favourite wild edible in Xishuangbanna. No locality or period is given beyond that.

See Xishuangbanna, Yunnanon the mapLocation source 1 →

Northern Thailand

Traditional use · Region evidence

Described as a favourite wild edible in northern Thailand.

See Northern Thailandon the mapLocation source 1 →

Indonesia

Documented use · Country evidence

First described from Indonesia in 1951; use as food is not well known there.

See Indonesiaon the mapLocation source 1 →

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