Comparison
Scarletina bolete or devil's bolete? How to tell them apart
Scarletina bolete is edible only with care, while the devil's bolete is a poisonous mushroom. Compare the two mushrooms point by point.
The scarletina bolete has a dark brown cap, a stem with red dots and no network, and yellow flesh that instantly turns navy blue. Similar “colourful boletes” not in this atlas: Rubroboletus rhodoxanthus (pinkish cap, distinct purple network) and Caloboletus radicans (rooting bolete; pale cap, but yellow pores and bitter flesh).
The devil's bolete also has red pores and bluing flesh, but it has a light grey, silvery cap and a red network on the stem (the scarletina bolete has dots/granules, no network), whitish flesh that turns only slightly blue; it grows only on limestone in warm beech woods. It is poisonous and strictly protected.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Scarletina bolete | Devil's bolete |
|---|---|---|
| Edibility | Edible with care | Poisonous |
| Cap | 5–20 cm across, dark brown, chestnut-brown, with brick or olive tones with age; surface matt, suede-like, bald in old specimens. | 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 yellow to olive; pores brick-red to orange-red; everything turns strongly blue immediately when pressed. | Tubes yellowish, turn blue when damaged; pores orange-yellow in young specimens, then blood-red to carmine-red, olive in old ones. |
| Stem | Yellow background densely covered with red dots or granules – no network; dark navy blue after light pressure. | Strongly bulbous, yellow at the top, carmine-red lower down, with a yellowish to reddish network in the upper part. |
| Flesh | Yellow; turns intensely navy-blue immediately when cut. | Whitish to pale yellow, turns slowly and slightly blue when cut. |
| Smell and taste | Smell faint, taste mild. | Taste mild; old fruit bodies have an unpleasant smell reminiscent of carrion. |
| Habitat | Broadleaf and coniferous forests, especially beech and spruce forests on acidic, poor soils; more common in southern Poland, in the foothills and mountains. | 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 | July, August, September |
How to recognise it: scarletina bolete
- Brick-red pores
- Yellow stem with red dots, WITHOUT a network
- Yellow flesh turns navy blue instantly
- Cap dark brown, 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
Scarletina bolete or devil's bolete: how can you tell them apart?
The scarletina bolete has a dark brown cap, a stem with red dots and no network, and yellow flesh that instantly turns navy blue. Similar “colourful boletes” not in this atlas: Rubroboletus rhodoxanthus (pinkish cap, distinct purple network) and Caloboletus radicans (rooting bolete; pale cap, but yellow pores and bitter flesh). The devil's bolete also has red pores and bluing flesh, but it has a light grey, silvery cap and a red network on the stem (the scarletina bolete has dots/granules, no network), whitish flesh that turns only slightly blue; it grows only on limestone in warm beech woods. It is poisonous and strictly protected.
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): Krasnoborowik ceglastopory
- 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.