Slippery jack or Peppery bolete

Cap 4–12 cm across, convex in young mushrooms, later flattened-convex. The surface is covered with a thick layer of slime — especially in wet weather. Color chocolate-brown or chestnut, yellowish brown when dry. The margin often bears remnants of the partial veil.

Cap 2-6 cm across, hemispherical when young, becoming convex-flat with age. Color yellowish-rust to copper-brown, reddish-orange, darker when young, fading with age. Surface smooth, slightly sticky in wet weather, dry and matte in dry weather.

The hymenophore has tubes. Pores yellow, small, regular, turning yellow-green with age. The tubes are attached to the stem or run slightly down it. When pressed, the pores turn slightly brownish.

Pored hymenophore: tubes decurrent down the stem, copper-red, rusty orange, a distinctive rich tube color that shows from every angle. Pores wide, angular, the same color as the tubes. Spore print copper-brown.

Stem 5–10 cm tall, 1–2 cm thick, solid, cylindrical. Yellow and granular in the upper part, brown or violet-brownish below the ring. A characteristic purple-brown membranous ring — a remnant of the partial veil and one of the key diagnostic features of the species.

Stem 3-7 cm tall, 0.5-1 cm thick, cylindrical, often narrowing toward the base. Color yellowish-rust to orange-brown, in the lower part lemon-yellow (a distinctive feature: a bright yellow patch at the base of the stem, as in the ruby bolete). No ring.

Flesh yellowish or pale cream, firm in young mushrooms, softer in mature ones. Turns slightly pink when cut or stays unchanged. The taste is mild, pleasant, slightly sourish. The cap skin peels off easily together with the slime.

Flesh thin, yellowish to yellow-pink, at the base of the stem bright yellow, lemon. When cut it turns faintly pink in the upper part. The taste is distinctly burning and peppery, hot like chili pepper: the main diagnostic feature of the species.

Smell pleasant, unobtrusively mushroomy, slightly resinous — reflecting its symbiosis with pine. With cooking the aroma intensifies and becomes more pronounced. No foreign unpleasant notes.

Faint, pleasant and mushroomy, with no distinctive notes. The smell is not pronounced, unlike the taste.