View A43-1112-1979-eng.pdf

BOLETACEAE
of these is a more technical key to the genera of boletes in which the species
described here would fall according to the system proposed by SHpp and Snell
(1944) The second is a key to the species themselves, based only on macro-
scopic characters. It makes no attempt to indicate relationships but is intended
only as a guide to the identification of the species.
Coker and Beers (1943) and Smith (1949) consider the boletes to be one of
the safest groups for the amateur to try as food. To be sure, some of the species
with red pore mouths are poisonous and all of these should be avoided, but
they are relatively rare. Smith also advises against using species in which the
flesh turns blue when cut or broken although Gyroporus cyanescens which
shows this reaction to an extreme degree is reported to be edible.
One of the difficulties about using the boletes for food is that it is hard to
find them free from insect larvae. They seem to become infested very early and
they need to be collected carefully, the button stages being especially desirable.
It is recommended that the tubes be removed and discarded before the pilei are
cooked as they are of a different consistency and tend to become sHmy.
Key to the genera
1. Spores globose, reticulate Strobilomyces
1. Spores smooth 2
2. Spores small, oblong to short-elliptical 3
2. Spores long-elliptical or subfusiform, colored 4
3. Spores hyaline Gyroporus
3. Spores colored Boletinellus
4. Tubes more or less radially arranged, not easily separable from
the pileus or from each other Boletinus
4. Tubes not radially arranged, easily separable from
the pileus and from each other 5
5. Pileus viscid and spores ellipsoid Suillus
5. Pileus not viscid, or if viscid spores subfusiform 6
6. Tubes and spores flesh-colored Tylopilus
6. Tubes and pores not flesh-colored 7
7. Stipe scabrous, rather slender, tapering upward Leccinum
7. Stipe not scabrous 8
8. Stipe often more or less bulbous when young, may be reticulate,
tubes sometimes stuffed when young with red mouths Boletus
8. Stipe never subbulbous, tubes not stuffed nor with red mouths Xerocomus
Key to the species
1. Tubes easily separable from the pileus and from each other 6
1. Tubes not easily separable from the pileus or from each other 2
2. Tubes arranged more or less in radial rows
with veins between 3
2. Tubes not arranged in radial rows, pileus with prominent,
erect scales, becoming blackish Strobilomyces floccopus
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