Wrinkled-cap Chinese porcini

Identity and name

Boletus reticuloceps is a bolete of the porcini group, Boletus section Boletus. The species was first described in 1993 as Aureoboletus reticuloceps and moved to Boletus in 2005. Its type came from Yunnan, China.

The English name Netcap king bolete appears in the Wikipedia listing for the species. The catalogue label wrinkled-cap Chinese porcini is a research name, and the sources reviewed here do not use it. The catalogue also gives the ecology as an ectomycorrhizal forest fungus, with the host association still to be verified.

Appearance

Wikipedia describes the dry cap as yellowish brown and deeply wrinkled, with a reticulated surface. The reticulation is the feature that gives the species its name.

Food status in the checklist

The 2026 Chinese species catalogue lists the species as edible or as edible and medicinal. The catalogue on which this page relies takes that listing as a research lead rather than as a food-safety assessment.

The sources reviewed here contain no culinary study, no traditional preparation and no toxicity study for this species. This page therefore records the checklist listing and nothing beyond it. A 2016 review of Chinese porcini mushrooms covers several edible porcini-like species, but the search did not show whether it covers this one.

Open questions

The main open questions are whether a regional culinary tradition exists, how the mushroom is prepared, whether it is sold in markets, and whether its host association in forest soils is as described. Each of these needs a direct food-use source, which the sources reviewed here do not give.

Safety

Boletes are easily confused with one another and with bitter or poisonous species, and a checklist entry does not show that a given specimen is this species or that it is safe to eat. Confirm any identification with an experienced local forager or a mycologist before eating a wild fungus. This page gives no identification or edibility verdict for Boletus reticuloceps.