Polyporaceae 

 Boletus. A patch of it is treasure trove. 



B. lepro'sus Pk. leprous. Pileus very convex, glabrous, soft like 

 kid, cinereous-yellowish-drab or pale-brown, slowly changing to whit- 

 ish where bruised, the cuticle separable. Flesh white, changing to yel- 

 lowish. Tubes yellow or brownish-yellow, changing to greenish where 

 wounded., plane, depressed around the stem, short, small, stuffed when 

 young. Stem solid, enlarged at the top, lemon-yellow. Spores oblong- 

 fusiform, 12.5-15x5^. 



PileilS 4-6 in. broad. Stem 2 in. long, I in. thick. 



Mixed woods. North Carolina, C. f. Curtis* 



This plant is remarkable for the whitish or leprous spots which the 

 pileus assumes, even from being handled, and for the change in the 

 color of the flesh and tubes. The stem is very thick at the top but 

 tapers downward. Peck, Boleti of the U.S. 



B. affi'nis Pk. related. Pileus convex above or nearly plane, 



subglabrous, reddish-brown or chest- 

 ' XX nut color fading to tawny or dingy- 



ochraceous with age. Flesh white. 

 Tubes plane or convex, adnate or 

 slightly depressed around the stem, 

 at first white and stuffed, then glau- 

 cous-yellow or subochraceous, chang- 

 ing to rusty-ochraceous where wound- 

 ed. Stem subequal, even, glabrous, 

 colored like or paler than the pileus. 

 Spores rusty-ochraceous, 912x45^. 

 The Related boletus belongs to the 

 tribe of Boleti known as Edules be- 

 cause of their especially esculent character, but it differs from the gen- 

 eral character of the tribe in having its tubes not at all or but slightly 

 shortened around the stem and in its stem not being thickened or bulb- 

 ous at the base. The species is quite variable in the color of the cap, 

 which is generally darker in young plants, paler in old ones. It may 

 be brown, reddish-brown or blackish-brown when young, but is more or 

 less tinged with tawny or ochraceous when old. It is smooth and even 

 or minutely tomentose and sometimes slightly rugose. In wet weather 



448 



BOLETUS AFFINIS. 



