Pileus 3 in. broad. Stem 2 in. long.
Moist woods. Frequent. North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Schweinitz.
In Epicrisis, p. 424, Fries adds to the description here quoted, that the stem is flocculose-veiled. He subjoins to this as a subspecies, Boletus floccosus Schw.; but in Syn. N.A. Fung., Schweinitz makes this a synonym of Boletus floccopus. The species does not appear to have been recognized by recent collectors, which seems strange unless there is some error concerning it. Can it be a black variety of Boletus scaber? Peck, Boleti of the U.S.
Mt. Gretna, Pa. Gravelly woods. McIlvaine.
Cap 1½-4 in. across, convex, slightly depressed, margin involute when young, black, densely velvety in youth and age—beautifully so. Flesh firm, thick, solid, white changing to grayish. Tubes white, stuffed, sometimes blackish when young, excepting a grayish-white circle around stem, becoming yellowish-white when matured, rotund, minute, up to ½ in. long, plane when young; when caps expand tubes draw away from stem leaving a deep white depression. This drawing away apparently elongates many dissepiments, creating a gill-like effect, decurrent upon stem. Stem 2–3 in. long, swollen toward base when young, equal, expanding into cap and tapering to a point at base; ¾-1 in. thick, slightly compressible, hard, sooty-black, velvety near base, satiny and glossy upward, has the appearance of having been blackened with burnt cork, usually with narrow white band next to the tubes, no trace of veil, composed of rather hard waved fibers, white when split, but changing to sooty black toward base, lighter upward.
Smell like common mushroom; taste nutty.
Gregarious in sandy-conglomerate soil in mixed woods, among moss and leaves. Mt. Gretna, Pa.
Differs from B. alboater Schw., in having densely tomentose cap, tubes widely separated from stem in age.
A young specimen of apparently same species in same patch had very short, decurrent tubes (not over 1 line) which were sooty-black.
Delicious.