At Mt. Gretna, Pa., 1897–1898, B. purpureus was common in oak and chestnut woods. It is a showy species, easily distinguished by its velvety cap. In young specimens the stem is robust, then tapering upward. When old the cap loses its rich color toward the margin, becoming yellowish. The flesh is thick, firm and of excellent flavor. It undoubtedly proved itself delicious and harmless to many eating it.
B. vermiculo´sus Pk.—wormy. Pileus broadly convex, thick, firm, dry, glabrous, or very minutely tomentose, brown, yellowish-brown or grayish-brown, sometimes tinged with red. Flesh white or whitish, quickly changing to blue where wounded. Tubes plane or slightly convex, nearly free, yellow, their mouths small, round, brownish-orange, becoming darker or blackish with age, changing promptly to blue where wounded. Stem subequal, firm, even, paler than the pileus. Spores ochraceous-brown, 10–12×4–5µ.
Var. Spra´guei. (Boletus Spraguei Frost, Bull. Buff. Soc., p. 102.) Stem yellow above, minutely velvety below.
Pileus 3–5 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 4–10 lines thick.
Woods. New York, Peck; Ohio, Morgan; New England, Frost.
The species is separated from B. luridus by its dry pileus, white flesh, even stem, which is neither reticulated nor dotted, and by its smaller spores. I can not distinguish specimens of B. Spraguei received from Mr. Frost, from this species. The name is scarcely appropriate, for specimens are not always infested by larvæ. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.
I have not seen this species, therefore, have not tested it. CAUTION.
B. subvelu´tipes Pk.—velvety-stem. Pileus convex, firm, subglabrous, yellowish-brown or reddish-brown. Flesh whitish, both it and the tubes changing to blue where wounded. Tubes plane or slightly convex, nearly free, yellowish, their mouths small, brownish-red. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, firm, even, somewhat pruinose above, velvety with a hairy tomentum toward the base, yellow at the top, reddish-brown below, varied with red and yellow within. Spores 15–18×5–6µ.
Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.
Woods. New York, Peck.