Boletus edulis. Bull.
The Edible Boletus.
Plate XLII. Figure 286.—Boletus edulis.
Pileus light brown, tubes yellowish or greenish-yellow. Stem bulbous and faintly reticulate. Natural size.
This is quite a large and handsome plant and one rather easily recognized. The firm caps of the young plant and the white tubes with their very indistinct mouths, and the mature plants with the tubes changing to a greenish yellow with their mouths quite distinct, are enough to identify the plant at once.
The pileus is convex or nearly plane; variable in color, light brown to dark brownish-red, surface smooth but dull, cap from three to eight inches broad. The flesh is white or yellowish, not changing color on being bruised or broken.
The tube-surface is whitish in very young plants, at length becoming yellow and yellowish-green. Pore openings angled. The tubes depressed around the stem, which is stout, bulbous, often disproportionately elongated; pale-brown; straight or flexuous, generally with a fine raised net-work of pink lines near junction of cap, sometimes extending to the base. The taste is agreeable and nutty, especially when young. Woods and open places. July and August. Common about Salem and Chillicothe, Ohio.
It is one of our best mushrooms. Captain McIlvaine says: "Carefully sliced, dried, and kept where safe from mold, it may be prepared for the table at any season."