Bolete Mushrooms

Types of Mushrooms Lobster Mushroom Oyster Mushrooms Pacific Golden Chanterelle Puffball Mushrooms Types of Mushrooms

Boletes, the common name for mushrooms in the Boletales order, are generally characterized as the mushrooms with pores rather than gills under the cap.

Many species are prized for their edibility and most people associate boletes with the boletus genus.

There are well over one hundred different boletus species in the United States, often making for difficult field identificaton.

The Admirable Bolete (Boletus mirabilis) in the top picture shows a red cap and stem contrasting with its yellow pores.

Unlike most other boletes which grow on the ground, the picture also shows the Admirable Bolete growing on a dead log.

According to the mycologists at Mykoweb, the picture on the left shows either the edible, but bland, Boletus chrysenteron, or it shows the closely related, and better tasting, Boletus truncatus.

Some people also nickname Boletus chrysenteron the red-cracked bolete because of the red stains that appear on the cracks of the cap as it matures.

The picture shows some evidence of red staining in the cracks on the lower portion of the cap, suggesting B. chrysenteron. However, a definitive identification is not possible without a miscropic examination of the spores.

Pores of both species are known to bruise blue fairly easy, and this specimen was found in a group of similar species with bruises. The bottom left side of the picture shows the mushroom's yellow pores.

Like most boletes, it is a ground growing species, often found along paths. They thrive in conifer forests.

The picture on the left might be Boletus fibrillosus.

The species gets its name from the mature cap, which has a wrinkled or fibered texture.

It is a fairly large boletus species, rivaling the size of the other two species listed here.

They are found in high elevation forested areas of the Pacific Coast.

The yellow pores do not readily bruise when you run your finger against them.

Lyccinum mushrooms are a genus of boletes characterized by scabers on the stem. The black dots or marks on the stem in the above picture readily categorizes the mushroom as a leccinum.

Identifying Leccinum species can be difficult because many species have caps with shades of brown. Many of the brown cap species are edible, however, caution is always advised picking any mushrooms.

© 2007 Patricia A. Michaels