Current name: Suillus americanus (Peck) Snell

Suillus sibiricus subsp. helveticus is a medium sized bolete with pale yellow pileus with darker spots and the margin fringed with veil and with a stipe with woolly, white ring. The fruit bodies are edible but not much appreciated by mushroom hunters. No commercial value. The fruiting period is July-October.

Ectomycorrhizal exclusively with five-needle pines.

Suillus americanus is exclusively mycorrhizal with five-needle pines, thus its distribution matches the distribution of the compatible hosts.

The subspecies helveticus is a very rare European species, endemic to Central-European mountains. It occurs within the area of distribution of its mycorrhizal trees as follows: Pinus cembra in the Alps and Carpathians (Favre 1960, Breitenbach & Kränzlin 1991, Lizoň & Bacigálová 1998, Krieglsteiner 2000, Roniker 2005), and P. peuce in the Balkans (Aasyov & Denchev 2004, Gyosheva et al. 2000, Karadelev & Rusevska 2009).

GBIF - 669 records, mostly from North America (USA, 349; Mexico, 199, Canada, 38), but also from Asia (Russian Federation, 20; China, 7; Republic of Korea, 7) and Europe (Switzerland, 13; Austria, 9; Italy, 7; Estonia, 5)
Mushroom observer - 214 records mainly from the USA (both west and east coast)

In national lists of endangered fungi in Austria, Armenia, Germany, Great Britain (extinct), Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland (extinct), Netherlands.

In regional lists of endangered fungi in FRANCE: Pays-de-la-Loire; GERMANY: Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen-Anhalt; RUSSIA: Rostov Region

 

Suillus americanus appears to associate exclusively with five-need needle pines: Pinus monticola, P. flexilis, and P. strobus in North America, P. cembra and P. peuce in Europe, and XX in Asia

Loss of habitats by constructing of sky-runs and other infrastructure for winter sports. Intensification of agriculture and forestry in subalpine region.

Many localities are already nature reserves, so the species is partially protected.

Molecular data are needed to ascertain differences between Suillus sibericus subsp. helveticus (treated here; associated to Pinus cembra and Pinus peuce in Europe), Suillus sibericus subsp. sibiricus (Pinus sibirica, closely related to P. cembra), Suillus americanus f. helveticus (Pinus strobus?), and Suillus americanus f.sibiricus (

Also confirm the identity of the collections associated with Pinus peuce (a pine related to the N American Pinus strobus, which is not associated with S. sibiricus but the very similar S. americanus).

Suillus sibiricus ssp. herlveticus is a species exclusively mycorrhizal with five-needle pines. The subspecies helveticus is a very rare European species, and occurs within the area of distribution of its mycorrhizal trees as follows: Pinus cembra in the Alps and Carpathians and P. peuce in the Balkans.

Edible.

GBIF website at https://www.gbif.org/ Accessed 09 February 2018.
https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=5239915

Mushroom Observer website at http://mushroomobserver.org/ Accessed 02 February 2018.

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3. Rohlena, J. 1942: Conspectus Florae Montenegrinae. Preslia 20-21.
4. Tortić, M. (1967): Ein neuer Fundort und neuer Mykorrhizapartner von Suillus sibiricus (Sing) Sing. SZFP. 45: 55-58.
5. Karadelev, M., Rusevska, K. (2013). Contribution to Macedonian Red List of fungi. Proceedings of the 4th Congress of Ecologists of Macedonia with International Participation, Ohrid, 12-15 October 2012. Macedonian Ecological Society, Special issue 28: 68-73. Skopje.
6. Karadelev, M. & K. Rusevska. (2008). Bern convention fungi candidates from Macedonia I (Boletus dupainii, Phylloporus rhodoxanthus and Suillus sibiricus ssp. helveticus). Biol. Macedonica, 61:7-14.
7. Kasom G, Miličković N. (2006). Protected Species of Macromycetes in the Republic of Montenegro. Institute for the Protection of Nature of Montenegro. Retrieved 2010-07-22.