Common in West Virginia mountains where it grows with B. felleus, from which it is impossible to distinguish it without tasting. It is delicious when cooked. But I long ago ceased collecting for the table any Boletus questionable for B. felleus. I have been deceived so many times—taken the bitter for the sweet—that, preferring the sweet, I take no chances for the bitter.
B. fel´leus Bull.—fel, gall. Bitter. (Plate [CXXII], fig. 2, 3, 4, p. 468.) Pileus convex or nearly plane, firm, becoming soft, glabrous, even, variable in color, pale-yellowish, grayish-brown, yellowish-brown, reddish-brown or chestnut. Flesh white, often changing to flesh color where wounded, taste bitter. Tubes adnate, long, convex, depressed around the stem, their mouths angular, white, becoming tinged with flesh-color. Stem variable, equal or tapering upward, short or long, sometimes bulbous or enlarged at the base, subglabrous, generally reticulated above, colored like or a little paler than the pileus. Spores oblong-fusiform, flesh-colored, 12.5–17.5×4–5µ.
Var. obe´sus. Pileus large. Stem thick, coarsely and distinctly reticulated nearly or quite to the base.
Pileus 3–8 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 6–12 lines thick.
The variety is large and solitary in its mode of growth. It is remarkable for the coarse reticulations of the stem which extend nearly or quite to the base. After heavy rains the pileus is viscid. It may prove to be a distinct species.
The flesh in the American plant does not always assume incarnate hues where wounded. The color of the fresh tubes often changes to a deeper tint where wounded. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, McIlvaine; Indiana, H.I. Miller.
A very common species in woods and on thin margins, on open grassy places, and about decayed stumps. I saw hundreds of plants, var. obesus, some a foot in diameter, in a wheat stubble near oak woods.
One of the most attractive of Boleti. Its cap resembles a handsomely browned cake. Its solidity is inviting; its flesh, generous in quantity, excites appetite. Until one experiences its intense lasting bitter, one clings to it with hope. Even after tasting, it is thrown away with regret. It is not poisonous, but a small piece of one will embitter a whole dish. McIlvaine, Bull. Phila. Myc. Center. July, 1898.
B. nigrel´lus Pk.—blackish. Pileus broadly convex or nearly plane, dry, subglabrous, blackish. Flesh soft, white, unchangeable. Tubes plane or convex, adnate, sometimes slightly depressed around the stem, their mouths small, subrotund, whitish becoming flesh-colored, slowly changing to brown or blackish where wounded. Stem equal, short, even, colored like or a little paler than the pileus. Spores dull flesh-colored, 10–12×5–6µ.