B. bicolor?

[eat-bolete]

first photos show instant bruising but mostly on the pores, latter photos were taken about 3hrs later, actually even previous bruising disappeared...smell is very faint, I guess of bullion cubes, hard to tell. Taste is mild.

[Dave W]

Smell of bullion cubes and blue staining point toward Boletus pallidoroseus. The red and yellow boletes can be pretty tricky. There's one photo which shows the cap surface. Cap color appears to lack the rosy-red color generally associated with B. bicolor. (Actually, old bicolor specimens can have caps faded to yellow.) My guess here is B. pallidoroseus.

[eat-bolete]

Thanks Dave, agreed, looks exactly like B. pallidoroseus. I found this link onlline about B. bicolor and lookalikes. Do you think it's accurate and reliable reference?

http://media.bostonmycologicalclub.org/pdf/BoletusBicolorAndLookalikesEd100113.pdf

[Dave W]

The link provides a good breakdown of the red/yellow boletes. Note that each of the species outlines has been (or will soon be) moved to some different (new) genus.

One possible piece of misinformation in the linked resource... B. bicoloroides is suspected to be a sickener. It's pretty similar to bicolor, and I think the only way to really tell is the difference in spore size. The range of bicoloroides is not well-understood, but it appears to be a northern NA species.

Also, I would also include Boletus miniato-olivaceus on the list. Although typically with olive-green tones on the cap, examples with completely reddish cap color are not uncommon. I find this type in only one location, a mixed woods featuring oak, birch, hemlock. The "mini-os" grow near a stream bank. This species is listed as a sickener.

I have found red/yellow boletes that seem to not fit in with any of the species concepts outlined in the liked resource. Mostly, the deviation involves type/amount of staining/bruising. For example, there's a type I find that looks just like bicolor, except the cap surface bruises black. It's possibly just a regional variety of bicolor. But I tend to exercise caution whenever I consider putting a mushroom into a meal.

[eat-bolete]

Thanks Dave, it's very useful to know about possible sickeners. I think I'll stay away from eating red/yellow boletes for now.

[Dave W]

I wouldn't rule out learning to ID classic examples of bicolor. I still take some of these home to eat when the I'm convinced that's what they are.

[eat-bolete]

But you said thst B. bicoloroides looks exactly like bicolor, with only difference being size of spores. How would you be sure without a microscope?

[Dave W]

Well... I suppose ruling out bicoloroides without access to seeing the spores seems a bit risky. But North American Boletes says bicoloroides is known only from Michigan. So I don't worry very much about this species. But I really should examine spores from some of my presumed bicolor collections. The spore sizes of bicolor and bicoloroides are quite different.

[dualsetters]

I thought a solid red stem was one of the signs that a red and yellow Bolete may be B. bicoloroides.

[Dave W]

Bicolor is often mainly/completely red on the stem.

[dualsetters]

oh, I thought it was normally yellow apex. Red and yellows are frustrating.

[Dave W]

Normally a yellow apex. But not always.From this past June.

I'm pretty certain this is a specimen of bicolor.