Boletus ?

[Hunter]

I'm finding lots of these around, along roadsides and in a backyard. I append six photos, three each of two specimens. The first is not as mature as the second but is large. The flesh is spongy/granular, the cap is dry and tan, the stem streaked with red. The second (Boletus Badius?) is larger, has a stem 10 cm and cap 15 cm. The cap is tacky to the touch, a nice shade of burgundy, which color has infused deeply into the naturally occurring split. A fresh wound in the cap exposes a thin layer of burgundy over white firm flesh that turns bluish within minutes or immediately when bruised. No spore print yet but the older example shows probable olive spore staining of the tubes.

[John Smalldridge]

I wonder if the second one might be Boletus chrysenteron? Just guessing. Looking foward to what Dave W says.

[Dave W]

I don't think the second is B. chrysenteron. This species features smallish mushrooms with velvety cap surface and scruffy stalk. When the weather is dry, many different species of boletes develop cracked cap surface. I don't have a guess for this one. Old boletes can be perplexing. Is the pore surface stained blue?

First bolete... are the pores slightly greenish/yellowish? If so, this would eliminate the genus Tylopilus, which features pores beginning whitish, going to slightly pinkish, and ending brown. Is the taste really bitter?

[Hunter]

Guys I'm adding 3 more pics because I really want this one to turn out to be an edible. The spore print is olive. The younger, when sliced have solid light burgundy flesh in the cap and a stem that is brown and white with a little bluish grey tint, and the stem can be seen as slightly fibrous. A two day older specimen, when sliced shows little to no burgundy in the cap but more blue-grey, and an otherwise off-white flesh with numerous medium brown dots and an emerging granularity. The stem is more fibrous.

This is definitely a different bolete from the second one from my earlier post and the same as the first. They grow in grass,. So far all have been within reach of pine roots.

The tubes are clogged with white and the white, in places comes up and over a part of the cap. The reason I am trying to get this id'd is the taste is sweet, pleasant, and "mushroomy" with a good mouth feel. After tasting one I've tried very hard to make these turn into King Boletes, but there little reticulation, the flesh color is wrong, and I forget what else. Any idea? Still, at my stage of ignorance I need to be very sure before I'll swallow a piece of bolete.

[Dave W]

I believe the "white" spreading from the pores up onto the cap margins is a species of Hypomyces. This is a fungus that parasitizes a fungus. In this case, the host fungus is some type of bolete. It is recommended that boletes parasitized by Hypomyces should not be eaten.

The question about the identity of the bolete remains. As you may guess, the Hypomyces makes this task even more difficult.

Tylopilus mushrooms have spore print that tends toward reddish or pinkish-brown.

Shape/size of the mushrooms in this thread suggests genus Xanthoconium to me. Specifically, the large/robust stems that are tapered below. Mushrooms from this genus have spore prints with yellow tint.

Olive print points toward genus Boletus, or one of the Boletus split-off genera (Xerocomellus etc...). If these are a species of Boletus, then they are likely not one of the species in the Boletus edulis group (King Bolete). Stalks for B. edulis should be thicker on the lower end.

Genus Xanthoconium includes all non-bitter edible types. X. separans (Boleteus separans) is an excellent edible, especially when dried and reconstituted for use in a sauce or soup.

Looks like you need to wait for another flush, Hunter.

[Tasso]

Dave is certainly right about the parasite: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hypomyces_chrysospermus.html

[Hunter]

I do very much appreciate the help. Gotta tell you, the bite I took was sweeter than any hedgehog so far. Maybe the result of the Hypomyces? Oh well. Thanks again.