Pileus 4–6 in. broad. Stem 2–6 in. long, 6–18 lines thick.
Woods and open places. Not rare. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.
Indiana, H.I. Miller, Dr. J.R. Weist; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, McIlvaine.
Some species of fungi appear to have that prize of Fairyland—the Wishing Cap—and by its power be able to take on any form they please. Boletus edulis is one of them. Its variableness is puzzling. It is eaten everywhere where found and is a favorite. Carefully sliced, dried and kept where safe from mold it may be prepared for the table at any season.
B. edulis Bull.—Var. clavipes Pk. (Plate [CXIX], fig. 1, p. 445.) Pileus fleshy, convex, glabrous, grayish-red, bay-red or chestnut-color. Flesh white, unchangeable. Tubes at first concave or nearly plane, white and stuffed, then convex, slightly depressed around the stem, ochraceous yellow. Stem mostly obclavate (inversely club-shaped) and reticulate to the base. Spores oblong-fusiform, 12–15×4–5µ.
The club-stemmed Boletus is so closely related to the edible Boletus and so closely connected by the intermediate forms that it seems to be only a variety of it, but one worthy of illustration. It differs in the more uniform color of the cap, in having the tubes less depressed around the stem and less tinted with green when mature, and in having the stem more club-shape and commonly reticulated to the base. The lower reticulations are usually coarser but less permanent than the upper. The cap is more highly colored when young and is apt to become paler with age, but the margin does not become paler than the central part, as it so often does in the edible Boletus. Individuals sometimes occur in which the stem is nearly cylindric and reticulated only on the upper part. These connect so closely with the edible Boletus that we have considered this to be a mere variety of it. In size and in edible qualities it is very similar to that species. Peck, 51st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Same in quality as B. edulis.
B. vari´ipes Pk.—variable stem. Pileus convex or nearly plane, thick, soft, dry, scaly, pointed scaly or minutely tomentose, grayish or pale grayish-brown, sometimes tinged with yellow or ochraceous. Flesh white, unchangeable. Tubes convex or nearly plane, slightly depressed around the stem, at first white, then greenish-yellow, their mouths small, subrotund, ochraceous, stuffed when young. Stem firm, reticulated, whitish or pallid. Spores oblong-fusiform, ochraceous-brown tinged with green, 12–15×5µ. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.
Mt. Gretna, Pa. August, 1898. Stem slightly reticulated at top, indistinctly striate below. Smell and taste strong, like B. felleus, but sweetish, not bitter. When tubes are removed and cap fried it is excellent.
Var. al´bipes. Stem whitish, wholly reticulated, the reticulations coarser near the base. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.