Boletus scaber
This is a very common mushroom in our woods all through the summer and autumn, in reasonably moist weather. It is figured in Plate 21. The cap of an average specimen expands four inches or more, is of a brown or brownish buff color, and viscid when moist. The pore-surface is dingy white, the tube orifices being quite minute and round—not so conspicuously angular or honey-combed as in other species—and with occasional reddish stains, presumably a deposit from the floating spores, which are tawny reddish. The flesh is dirty white, the stem solid, contracting upwards, and rough with fibrous brownish scaly points—whence the name "scaber"—often arranged somewhat in vertical lines. Epicures fail to agree as to the esculent qualities of this mushroom. It is certainly inferior to the edulis.
THE YELLOW-CRACKED BOLETUS
Boletus subtomentosus
Specific qualities
The general contour of the present species— B. subtomentosus (Plate 22, fig. 1)—resembles the foregoing, but it is easily distinguished by the color of its cap and tube surface, the pileus being usually olive, olive-brown, or red of various shades; the color, however, does not extend to the flesh beneath the peeled cuticle, as in B. chrysenteron, Fig. 2. The surface is soft and dry—subtomentous—to the touch. Cracks in the cap become yellow, on which account this species is called the "yellow-cracked Boletus," in contradistinction to the red-cracked B. chrysenteron. Its most important distinction, however, is of a chemical nature.
The blue stain
The stem is stout, unequal, firm, yellowish, and more or less ribbed, occasionally tinted, minutely dotted, or faintly striped with the color of the cap. The taste of the flesh is sweet and agreeable. Palmer compares it to the flavor of walnuts. The tube surface is yellow or yellowish green, and the tubes and yellowish flesh of cap and stem turn a rich peacock-blue immediately on fracture, becoming deeper moment by moment until the entire exposed portion becomes leaden—especially noticeable in mature specimens. The pore surface shows a similar blue stain whenever bruised. The tubes are angular-sided instead of round, and much larger than in the B. edulis; spores ochre colored.
An unwarranted stigma
This blue stain was formerly, and is even now, deemed sufficient with many mycophagists to place this mushroom on the black-list, but is believed by Mr. Palmer and Mr. McIlvaine to be unwarranted as a stigma, assuming that fresh specimens are employed. The B. subtomentosus is also among the eleven edible Boleti in the list of Dr. Curtis, given on a previous page, and the present author has habitually eaten the species with enjoyment and without unpleasant results. Fresh young specimens with the least change of color would perhaps be the wiser choice for the novice.