Factors influencing growth and spore germination of species of boletus

Abstract

Studies in the genus Boletus have been in progress in the Botany Department of St Andrews University for a considerable number of years. Several species can be found nearby at Tentsmuir, Fife, in an area bordering the Nature Reserve. Some of these grow at quite a distance from trees in the regions of the sand dunes. Much of the work being undertaken is directed towards investigating the reasons for the species growing in such diverse habitats, and it is hoped that the researches recorded here may contribute something useful to the work of the department. The twofold objective of this research was to isolate mycelium from freshly harvested fruit bodies in order to carry out tests on the nitrogen and carbon utilisation of these species and to attempt to find out the conditions necessary for the germination of Boletus spores. The extensive studies of Fries (1941, 1943, 1949, 1966) have shown the latter to be a difficult problem. The nutritional tests were planned as a first step in studying the relationship between roots of pine and the fungi concerned, which are all mycorrhizal.