B. minia´to-oliva´ceus Frost—olive-red. Pileus at first convex and firm, then nearly plane, soft and spongy, glabrous, vermilion, becoming olivaceous. Flesh pale-yellow, changing to blue where wounded. Tubes bright lemon-yellow, adnate or subdecurrent. Stem glabrous, enlarged at the top, pale-yellow, brighter within, sometimes lurid at the base. Spores 12.5×6µ.
Var. sensi´bilis (Boletus sensibilis Rep. 32, p. 33).
Pileus at first pruinose-tomentose, red, becoming glabrous and ochraceous-red with age. Tubes bright-yellow tinged with green, becoming sordid-yellow. Stem lemon-yellow with red or rhubarb stains at the base, contracted at the top when young, subcespitose. Spores 10–12.5×4–5µ.
Pileus 2–6 in. broad. Stem 3–4 in. long, 3–6 lines thick.
Woods and their borders. New England, Frost; New York, Peck.
Though the sensitive Boletus differs considerably in some respects from the olive-red Boletus, it is probably only a variety, and as such I have subjoined it here. In it every part of the plant quickly changes to blue where wounded, and even the pressure of the fingers in handling the fresh specimens is sufficient to induce this change of color. I have not found the typical plant in New York, but specimens received from Mr. Frost are not, in the dry state, distinguishable from the variety. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.
Indiana, H.I. Miller; West Virginia. Haddonfield, N.J. Cheltenham, Pa., McIlvaine.
Years ago I marked it edible and excellent when young. My friends have eaten it, and continue to do so. Yet Professor Peck (48th Rep., p. 202) reports a case brought to his notice of an entire family being sickened by eating B. sensibilis. All recovered. It may, therefore, be one of those species which, while disagreeing with some persons, can be eaten by the majority. Clitocybe illudens, Lepiota Morgani and others of the Agaricaceæ are such species.
Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine. Plate CXVII.