Comparison
Porcini or devil's bolete? How to tell them apart
Porcini is an edible mushroom, while the devil's bolete is a poisonous mushroom. Compare the two mushrooms point by point.
The devil's bolete (very rare, protected, poisonous) has a greyish-white cap, red pores, a carmine stem with a reddish network and flesh that turns blue – the porcini never has red pores.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Porcini | Devil's bolete |
|---|---|---|
| Edibility | Edible | Poisonous |
| Cap | Usually 6–25 cm across; whitish or pale when young, later hazelnut-brown to dark brown, often with a paler margin. Surface smooth or wrinkled, not suede-like, slightly sticky when wet. | Large, 10–25(30) cm, light grey, silvery grey or whitish with olive patches, pinkish at the margin with age; surface smooth or finely suede-like. |
| Under the cap | Tubes and pores white when young, then yellow, yellow-green to olive-green; pores fine, do not change colour when pressed. Spore print olive-brown. | Tubes yellowish, turn blue when damaged; pores orange-yellow in young specimens, then blood-red to carmine-red, olive in old ones. |
| Stem | Thick, barrel-shaped when young, later club-shaped, whitish to light brown; a delicate, pale (whitish) network in the upper part. | Strongly bulbous, yellow at the top, carmine-red lower down, with a yellowish to reddish network in the upper part. |
| Flesh | White, firm, brownish under the cap cuticle; does not change colour when cut. | Whitish to pale yellow, turns slowly and slightly blue when cut. |
| Smell and taste | Smell pleasant, intense when dried; taste mild, nutty. | Taste mild; old fruit bodies have an unpleasant smell reminiscent of carrion. |
| Habitat | Coniferous, broadleaf and mixed forests, preferring conifers; most abundant in mountain spruce forests. Acidic soils, avoids calcareous ones. Less common in the lowlands, rare near large cities. | Warm, open broadleaf forests (beech and oak woods) on calcareous soils; only a few sites are known in Poland (Sudetes, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Ponidzie). |
| Season | May, June, July, August, September, October, November | July, August, September |
How to recognise it: porcini
- Pale, fine network on the upper part of the stem (not dark)
- Pores white, then yellow-green – never pink or red
- Flesh white, does not turn blue when cut
- Taste mild, not bitter
- Cap smooth, not suede-like
How to recognise it: devil's bolete
- Light grey, chalk-white cap
- Red pores
- Bulbous stem, carmine below, with a reddish network
- Only on limestone, very rare
Safety rule
Never eat a mushroom identified only from a website, a photo or an app. Show any doubtful specimen to a certified mushroom inspector at the sanepid (state sanitary inspection); in season the advice points are free. Do not give wild-picked mushrooms to children.
The golden rules of foraging →Frequently asked questions
Porcini or devil's bolete: how can you tell them apart?
The devil's bolete (very rare, protected, poisonous) has a greyish-white cap, red pores, a carmine stem with a reddish network and flesh that turns blue – the porcini never has red pores.
Devil's bolete: what to do if you have eaten it?
Call 112 at once or go to A&E (SOR), and take any leftover mushrooms with you. Gastrointestinal syndrome (vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain). Toxicity is attributed to the glycoprotein bolesatine; muscarine is present in amounts presumably too small to explain the poisoning. Most potent when raw or undercooked.
Sources
- Wikipedia (pl): Borowik szlachetny
- Atlas grzybów Polski – grzyby.pl (M. Snowarski)
- First Nature – fungi
- Wikipedia (pl): Krwistoborowik szatański
- Atlas grzybów Polski – grzyby.pl (M. Snowarski)
- First Nature – fungi
Last checked: 9 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Write to us.