Suillus flavidus or Slippery jack

Cap 3-7 cm across, hemispherical in young mushrooms, becoming convex to flat with age. Color: pale yellow-ocher, straw-yellow, with a faint greenish tint. The skin is slimy in wet weather and peels off easily. In young mushrooms the cap margin is joined to the stem by a thin white veil, which later leaves a ring zone on the stem.

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.

The hymenophore is made of tubes — they are attached to the stem, yellowish, becoming yellow-olive with age. The pores are small and angular, the same color as the tubes. Spore print ocher-brown. In young mushrooms the pores are covered by a whitish partial veil.

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.

Stem 4-7 cm tall, 0.5-1 cm thick, cylindrical, slender, often curved. Color: light yellow, with fine reddish-brown dots (glandular dots) above the ring zone. A ring zone from the whitish veil in the upper part is a hallmark of the genus Suillus. Below the ring zone the stem is smooth.

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.

The flesh is soft, pale yellow, watery. When cut it turns faintly pinkish in the cap; in the stem it does not change color. Smell and taste are mild and neutral, with no sharp notes.

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.

Faint, pleasant, mushroomy, with no distinctive undertones.

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