Ruby Bolete

It is a small bolete, with the cap being rarely over 6 centimetres (2+3⁄8 in) in diameter. This cap is scarlet to raspberry red when young, with a dry velvety texture, often cracking in age. The extreme margin often has a pale yellow or white band around it, and it discolours darker and dirtier with age. The pores are small; pale yellow, and bruise slowly. Sometimes tapering, the stem is slender and long, and may reach 7.5 cm (3 in). It is lemon yellow at the apex, but red elsewhere, and has a tendency to split or sheer vertically. The flesh is straw-coloured in the cap, and stains slowly blue over the tubes when cut. The flesh of the stem is pale yellow at the apex and yellow further down. At the stem base, the flesh may have a distinct spot of brick-red or orange. The tubes and pores are large and lemon-yellow, and may be greenish tinged when older. The spore print is olive. It smells pleasant, but indistinct, and is said to taste slightly soapy. Conflicting information on pore size in notable publications is a possible indication that there may be more than one species involved, both in Britain and in North America.

Uncommon to rare in Southern England, occurring largely with oak (Quercus). It also appears in Europe, and the Eastern United States and Canada. A similar species noted as "cf versicolor" has been collected from Victoria in southeastern Australia.

The species is edible, but often maggoty, and some sources describe the taste as soapy.