Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American fungi / How to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and avoid the poisonous, with full botanic descriptions. Toadstool poisons and their treatment, instructions to students, recipes for cooking, etc., etc.

by Charles McIlvaine; Robert K. Macadam

B. alveolatus appears to be more generally distributed than B. Satanus. It is not as clannish, though occasionally three or four are found growing together. When growing from the banks of creeks, or between the roots of beech and other trees in low places, it is often deformed in cap and stem. The texture is firm, close and the taste is very pleasant. It botanically takes its place in this suspected series. I consider it one of the best Boleti. See remarks heading [Luridi].

B. lu´ridus Schaeff.—lurid in color. Pileus convex, tomentose, brown-olivaceous, then somewhat viscose, sooty. Flesh yellow, changing to blue where wounded. Tubes free, yellow, becoming greenish, their mouths round, vermilion, becoming orange. Stem stout, vermilion, somewhat orange at the top, reticulate or punctate. Spores greenish-gray, 15×9.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long.

The lurid Boletus, though pleasant to the taste, is reputed very poisonous. Boletus rubeolarius Pers., having a short bulbous scarcely reticulated stem, is regarded as a variety of this species. The red-stemmed Boletus, B. erythropus Pers., is also indicated as a variety of it by Fries. It is smaller than B. luridus, has a brown or reddish-brown pileus and a slender cylindrical stem, not reticulated, but dotted with squamules. It has been reported from California by Harkness and Moore. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.

Var. erythropus received from Dr. J.W. Harshberger, Philadelphia, May, 1896.

Often shining as if varnished and very handsome. I frequently found it in West Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in mixed woods among leaves. Its reputation is bad. It is undoubtedly edible by many, and is delicious. The caution heading [Luridi] should be carefully observed.

B. purpu´reus Fr.—purple. Pileus convex, opaque, dry, somewhat velvety, purplish-red. Flesh in the young plant only becoming blue, then dark-yellow. Tubes nearly free, yellow or greenish-yellow, their mouths minute, purple-orange, changing to blue where wounded. Stem stout, firm, adorned with purple veins or dots, sometimes reticulated at the apex only, yellow, reddish within, especially at the base. Spores greenish-brown, 10–12×5–6µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 6–8 lines thick.

Woods. North Carolina, Curtis; New York, Peck; Minnesota, Johnson. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.

West Virginia, Mt. Gretna, Pa., McIlvaine.