What's this bolete?

Well, these guys were growing under a scrappy oak tree, near some pine trees.

They must be boletes - they have that bolete underside.

They are quite yellow on the bottom, and are yellow, bruising blue when cut. The top is a pretty rusty orange brown. They grew kind of crooked - can you see the stem of the one I took a picture of when it was still in the ground? The stem sticks out sideways from the top of the mushroom.

I'm pretty frustrated with my mushroom books for this one. The Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms just doesn't have a picture that seems to match.

I think I should have done the spore print right away when picking, they dried up pretty quickly sitting outside in the hot sun, and I ended up getting no spore print when I tried setting it out all night in the evening.

They do smell wonderful though, very reminiscent of porcini's.

Nancy

The look like what we call "reds" ( duh!) here in KC. Typically associated with Eastern white pines. Tasty enough, but slimy, ugh.

Geo

Nancy, I have no idea on your mushroom, but I want to say that I love what you're doing, and the idea of this thread. Keep on posting, and I hope others pip in with their finds.

Nancy, check this out: http://mushroom-collecting.com/mushroombicolor.html


Geo

I've seen those before. I think they are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_luridus

Nancy S wrote:





Well, these guys were growing under a scrappy oak tree, near some pine trees.

They must be boletes - they have that bolete underside.

They are quite yellow on the bottom, and are yellow, bruising blue when cut. The top is a pretty rusty orange brown. They grew kind of crooked - can you see the stem of the one I took a picture of when it was still in the ground? The stem sticks out sideways from the top of the mushroom.

Geo wrote:The look like what we call "reds" ( duh!) here in KC. Typically associated with Eastern white pines. Tasty enough, but slimy, ugh.

Geo

Agreed, Red-capped Bolete here. They taste okay and are slimy. They dry pretty well and rehydrate with a more pleasant texture.

Nancy S wrote:I'm pretty frustrated with my mushroom books for this one. The Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms just doesn't have a picture that seems to match.

Audubon guides frustrate me too- too much flipping about between pictures and the texts. I do appreciate that they organize by appearance, which is helpful with mushrooms if you intend to eat them, since you can compare similar looking species in pictures. I prefer the Smithsonian handbook for quick identification and highly legible pictures.

I've found this guide to be one of the very best. Although it wouldn't be entirely relevant to your needs in N. Illinois, it would have enough overlap to be valuable. Written by a marvelous overlap of academic and woods people.

Geo

Can you call/email a picture of these to the Chicago Botanic Garden and ask them? I always wondered if you took a sample of some weird plant/mushroom etc from your garden that they could help you identify it. Anyone know?