Boletes have fruiting bodies like agarics in shape and texture, but their spores are produced inside pores or tubes. Many of the boletes are edible, although little is known about our native species.

Being mycorrhizal, our natives are found in both our Nothofagus and Leptospermum forests. While others that are introduced are found under exotic trees like oak, birch and pine.

These are fungi which have lost their ability to forcefully eject their spores. Instead, they rely on insects or birds to eat them and carry off the spores for dispersal. Many are brightly coloured to attract birds and are found on or partly buried in the ground.