Borovik, which is even more often called the cep, is a mushroom from the family of boletes of the boletus genus. He is particularly fond of mushroom pickers because of their size, taste and smell. The presence of a multitude of names testifies to people's love and popularity: belevik, wood-grouse, babek, cobbler, reaper. Borovik has about 300 species, among which there are both edible, and inedible, and even poisonous. We will introduce you to the 10 most common species of boletus mushroom, we give their description and photos that will give you an idea of how they look.
Bronze
This type of boletus (lat. Boletus aereus) can be found quite rarely in the forests of Western and Southern Europe. The area of its distribution is deciduous forests (oak, hornbeam, beech). In France, he is called the head of a black man (probably because of a chocolate-colored hat). In Ukraine, it is an oak mushroom or rude. There, this species is even listed in the Red Book. However, as in Norway, Montenegro, Denmark. If you're lucky, you can meet this rare species from the beginning of summer to October.
Did you know? The largest boletus today was found in 1961. He weighed over 10 kg and his cap was 57 cm in diameter..The bronze type of a boletus has a cap with a diameter of 5-20 cm and a semi-circular shape. All its skin is speckled with dark cracks. Its color is bronze with a greenish tinge, it is dark brown and even almost black. In the young, its edges are curved, with age, as the cap acquires a convex shape, they become almost flat. The tubules on the bottom of the cap are white, with age turning greenish-yellow.
The leg length of 9-12 cm at first looks like a barrel, later becomes cylindrical. Sometimes it takes the form of a mace. Its color is dark brown, but it is much lighter than the cap.
The flesh is white, the color does not change when cut. It has a very good mushroom flavor and great taste. It is because of these characteristics that gourmets attribute it to very valuable specimens and rate it higher than the "king of mushrooms" - the white mushroom. It is dried, pickled, fried, boiled. 
Oak (netted)
Oak species (lat. Boletus reticulatus) are often called summer. It can be found in deciduous forests, mostly under birches, lindens, beeches, chestnuts, in areas of warm climatic zones. It appears early - the first copies can be found already at the end of spring. The end of fruiting is in October.
We suggest finding out how this mushroom from the borovik genus looks from our short description. The size of the cap can meet from 8 to 25 cm. At first it grows in the shape of a ball, then it becomes convex. The skin on the cap is dotted with small cracks that form a beautiful mesh pattern. The color of the cap surface is usually light brown. Sometimes it may not have bright spots. White tubules are located on the bottom of the cap. Later, they become yellowish-green or olive.
The leg grows from 10 to 25 cm. In young boletuses it resembles a mace in shape, and in aging mushrooms it is similar to a cylinder. Her color is light brown. The entire length of it is shrouded in a grid of white. Occasionally found brown.
The flesh is white oak. In the context of its color does not change. It has an attractive mushroom smell and slightly sweet taste. The aroma becomes more saturated in dried mushrooms.
Oak species are very similar to pine. The only visible difference between them is that the latter only covers the upper portion of the leg.
Used mushroom in fresh and marinated form. 
Learn more about such edible mushrooms: aspen, black milk mushrooms, boletus, russula, volushki, satanic mushroom, chanterelles, aspen mushroom, white podgruzdki, mushrooms, boletus mushroom, white fungus and honey agaric.
Maiden
An overview of the most common species of boletus mushroom we continue with a description of the maiden species (lat. Boletus appendiculatus). It has a few more names: adnexal, ovary, brown-yellow, shortened. In nature, it can be found quite rarely. As a rule, the area of its distribution is limited to areas located in a warm climate zone, deciduous and mixed forests. Especially likes to grow under the oaks, hornbeams, beeches, fir. Fruits from early summer to early autumn.
You can recognize it by the hat yellowish, brown or red-brown color. In young specimens it is semi-circular, later - convex. In diameter it reaches from 7 to 20 cm.
The leg is cylindrical or in the form of a club from 6 to 12 cm in length and from 2 to 3 cm in thickness. In young borovikov covered with mesh. Across the surface is yellow, below - red-brown.
The flesh is yellow. When cutting is painted in blue. Fruit body is fragrant and tasty.
According to external signs, the marsh mushroom looks like a semi-white. You can distinguish them by the fact that the latter has a light yellow-brown cap, the lower leg portion has an almost black color, and the smell is specific, resembling carbolic acid. Also, this boletus looks like a semi-proprietary one with the only difference that the latter has white flesh. 
White
What a white mushroom looks like (lat. Boletus edulis) is probably known even to a teenager. It is a large and very tasty representative of the borovik genus, growing in forests of deciduous, coniferous and mixed types. Forms mycorrhiza with some trees. Appears in waves. Its fruiting can be divided into several stages. The most abundant fruits during the second stage - in mid-July. Fruiting ends in October. In cooking, it is used in all kinds of species.
Did you know? Dried ceps more calories than fresh. 100 g of freshly plucked contains 34 kcal, and in the dry product - 286 kcal..The species is recognizable by a large hemispherical cap reaching 25 cm in diameter. The largest specimens come across with 50 cm caps. Its color is usually whitish, but it can be dark brown, have a reddish tint - growth conditions affect the cap color. Her skin is smooth, velvety to the touch.
The cap is attached to the massive and high leg. It grows up to 20 cm in length and up to 5 cm in width.
The leg is cylindrical in shape, it expands strongly towards the base. Its color is white or light beige. Mesh pattern covers its top. Usually most of the legs are hidden in the soil.
The pulp at breaking or cutting does not change color, and all the time remains white. It smells faintly and has an attractive taste with a nutty flavor.
Other boletuses are not so rarely confused with the white species. For example, the common oak and the boletus yellow are very similar in appearance to it.
White fungus is credited with medicinal properties. In folk medicine, means based on it are used to heal frostbite, with angina, tuberculosis, as a prevention of the formation of cancer and to strengthen the immune system.
Important! Under the white fungus masked gall, which has a bitter taste and is inedible. You can distinguish them by the cap: in the white, its lower part is white, gray, yellowish, and in the gall it has a pinkish tint. If you break the flesh, then in the white fungus it is white, and in the gall - with a pink tinge. On the leg of the latter there is a dark mesh pattern.
Birch
Birch boletus (lat. Boletus betulicola) got its name due to the fact that it forms mycorhiza with birch trees. He often comes across mushroom pickers in Russia and Western Europe. It grows on edges and along roadsides. Can grow families and alone. Fruits from early summer to mid autumn.
In young specimens, the caps have a pillow shape. For adults, it is flat. Its dimensions can be from 5 to 15 cm in diameter. Its color is light: from white-ocher to yellowish. Maybe almost white. The top of the cap is smooth, sometimes wrinkled. Its lower tubular part is white in young specimens; later, as it grows, it acquires a light yellow shade.
The leg may have a length of from 5 to 12 cm. The shape resembles a keg - widened from below, narrowed to the top. The color is white with a slightly brown tint. In the upper zone is covered with white mesh.
The flesh is white, after breaking it remains the same color. Fragrant, with a mild flavor. 
Burroughs
Burrough’s boletus (lat. Boletus barrowsii) forms mycorrhiza with conifers and lives more in the forests of North America. Usually grows randomly, in small or large groups throughout the summer season.
It has a fleshy cap in sizes from 7 to 25 cm in diameter. In young specimens it is round, in old ones it is flat. Its color can be different - white, yellowish, gray. The lower tubular layer is white, slightly darkens as it gets older and acquires a yellowish or greenish tint.
The leg is quite high, grows in height by 10-25 cm, in width by 2-4 cm. It is whitish in color. The shape of the club-shaped. The entire length of the leg is decorated with a whitish mesh.
The pulp of Burrough’s cowberry is dense. It has a rich mushroom smell. It tastes sweetish. Its color even when cut or cracked remains white.
The nutritional value of this mushroom is somewhat lower compared to, for example, with a white appearance - it is ranked in the second category. It is subjected to drying, boiling, frying, pickling. Usually used for cooking soups, sauces, side dishes. 
Yellow
Yellow boletus (lat. Boletus junquilleus) grows in oak and beech forests in Western Europe and some regions of Russia. He fructifies from mid-summer to mid-autumn.
His hat is not as large as that of other members of the borovik genus - it grows from 4 to 16 cm. It is very rare to see specimens with a 20-centimeter cap. As with all borovik, over time, it changes its shape - first it is convex, then gradually turns into a flat one. As the name implies, is colored yellow. The top of the cap is usually smooth, but may be wrinkled. The lower part, where the tubes are located, is also yellow. If you squeeze it, the tubes will turn blue.
Leg medium length - 4-12 cm, tuberiform. Painted in yellow. Unlike most borovikov, it is not covered with a grid. Sometimes littered with scales or brown grain.
Pulp consistency dense. It has almost no smell. The color is yellow. When cutting changes color to blue.
Yellow boletus is ranked in the second category of mushrooms allowed for consumption. The main use found in fresh, pickled and dried.
Learn how to grow mushrooms at home and their benefits and harm to the body.
Royal
The growing region of King Borovik (lat. Boletus regius) is limited to Russia. It grows in deciduous forests, mostly in beech, on calcareous and sandy soils. Fruits from early summer to early autumn.
Mushroom is very attractive in appearance. It has a bright pink, pink or purple-red cap, which reaches a diameter of 6-15 cm. Its surface is smooth, occasionally dotted with cracks of white. In young mushrooms, it is convex, then smoothly turns into cushion and flat. Old representatives of this species have a dent in the center of the cap. Tubes in the lower layer of a greenish or yellowish tint.
The leg grows up to 15 cm in height. The thickness can reach 6 cm. Painted in a yellowish-brown color. The upper part is covered with a yellow mesh.
The flesh of the king boletus is yellow. If you cut it, it turns blue. It has a good aroma and taste. The consistency is dense.
This view is valuable. In cooking, it is used fresh and canned. 
Porosporic
Porospore borovik (lat. Boletus porosporus) is often also referred to as the genus Moth. His favorite habitat is deciduous and mixed forest. There they appear from the beginning of summer to the beginning of autumn.
His hat grows up to 8 cm in diameter. It looks similar to a pillow or a hemisphere. Its surface is dotted with white microcracks. Its color is dark or gray-brown. Below it is rich yellow. When squeezed the tubes turn blue.
The leg is of medium length, gray-brown color. At the base has a particularly rich color.
The pulp of the porospore white. According to the structure, it is fleshy. Tasty, with a fruity aroma. In several sources, this mushroom is classified as conditionally edible.
Important! Among borovik there are conditionally edible, inedible and poisonous - for example, boletus wolf, beautiful-footed, rooted, Le Gal, beautiful, pink-purple, pink-skinned, etc. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the color of the fungus in the fault. Usually in inedible flesh becomes pink, bluish.
Vechtner
The fechtner borovik (Boletus fechtneri) grows in Russia, the Far East and the Caucasus. It can be found in the forests of broadleaf type from early summer to early fall.
It has a hemispherical cap size from 5 to 15 cm in diameter. Its surface is silvery white. The bottom tubular layer is yellow. The skin is smooth, and on rainy days it becomes mucous.
The leg of this species is tuberiform. In height it reaches 4-16 cm, in width - 2-6 cm. Its surface is painted yellow, the base is brown. Most often covered with a mesh pattern, but it may not be.
The pulp of this boletus is rather fleshy and elastic. Virtually odorless. Painted white. When cracking becomes with a bluish tint.
By taste, this boletus belongs to the third category. It is consumed fresh, salted, pickled. 
Learn how to prepare porcini mushrooms for the winter.Now you have an idea of what a boletus is, which types of it are most common and revered among fans of "quiet hunting". Impressive sizes, excellent taste, growing in groups - this is an incomplete list of the advantages of this mushroom. It is included in the first and second categories of nutritional value and has found application in different types and dishes. Some species also have healing properties.
