The pileus at first is very compact, nearly round, somewhat covered with a mealy substance, purplish-brown, or chocolate color, sometimes with a faint tinge of lilac, becoming convex, soft, smoky red, or pale-chestnut, flesh grayish or reddish-white.
The tube surface is at first concave or nearly plane, stuffed, colored nearly like the pileus, becoming paler with age and depressed around the stem, the mouths minute, round.
The stem is stout, generally short, equal or tapering upward, abruptly narrowed at the base, minutely branny, colored like or a little paler than the cap, purplish-gray within.
The spores are subferruginous, 12.5–15×5–6µ. This plant is found in open woods where there are beech trees. I found it frequently on Cemetery Hill, Chillicothe. It is widely distributed, being found from the east to the west. July and August.
Boletus pallidus. Frost.
The Pallid Boletus. Edible.
Pallidus, pale. The pileus is convex, becoming plane or centrally depressed, soft, smooth, pallid or brownish-white, sometimes tinged with red. Flesh is white. Tubes plane or slightly depressed around the stem, nearly adnate, very pale or whitish-yellow, becoming darker with age, changing to blue where wounded, the mouths small. The stem is equal or slightly thickened toward the base, rather long, smooth, often flexuous; whitish, sometimes streaked with brown, often tinged with red within. Spores pale ochraceous-brown. Pileus two to four inches broad. Stem three to five inches long. Peck, Boleti of the U. S.
This species is very good, tender, and appetizing. I found it quite abundant in the woods of Gallia County and near Chillicothe, Ohio.
Boletus alveolatus. B. and C.
The Alveolate Boletus.