BOLETUS. 289 



Pilens 2-G in. broad, convex, expanded, minutely tomen- 

 tose, olive, brick-red, pinkish, cream-coloured, or ferruginuus 

 brown ; flesh more or less yellow, changing to blue. Tubes 

 free, yellow or greenish, their orifices of a beautiful red or 

 bright orange, quite simple, round. Spores olivaceous-ochre. 

 Stem variable in length, bulbous, tomentose, sometimes 

 quite smooth, red, with ferruginous or the brightest yellow 

 shades, solid, generally more or less marked or reticulated 

 with crimson-red. (Berk.) 



Plant large and robust. Pileus 3-6 in. broad, convex, 

 thick, subtomentose, olivaceous, becoming darker and dingy 

 in age, very juicy. Flesh yellowish, when cut or broken 

 changing instantly to a blue colour. Tubes of the hyme- 

 nium scarcely in contact with the stipes, |— |- in. long, yel- 

 low, roundish, the orifice minute and of a fine red. Stipes 

 2-5 in. high, mostly very thick, and much incrassated to 

 wards the base, solid, yellow above, red below, and gene- 

 rally more or less reticulated with red veins. (Grev.) 



Var. erythropus. Fries. Stem thinner than in the 

 typical form, not reticulated, yellow with red squamules or 

 spots, flesh red at the base. 



Boletus luridus, var. erythropus. Fries, Hym. Eur., p. 511. 



Boletus erythrojms, Cke., Hdbk., p. 258. 



In woods. A smaller form than the type, pileus tomen- 

 tose, stem elongated, equal or a little thinner upwards, not 

 ventricose. The flesh of the stem is sometimes all yellow, 

 and the main point of difference between the variety and the 

 type then turns on the elongated subequal stem without 

 reticulations. 



Boletus purpureus. Fr. 

 Pileus 3-4 in. across, convex, slightly velvety, dry, oj^aque, 

 reddish-purple, flesh thick, pale yellow, becoming blue in 

 young specimens when broken ; tubes almost free from the 

 stem, about ^ in. long, pale yellow-green, openings reddish- 

 purple, minute, subrotund, about |- mm. in diameter ; stem 

 2-3 in. long, fj in. thick, yellow, streaked and spotted with 

 purple, especially towards the base, solid, flesh purple, espe- 

 cially downwards; spores elliptic-oblong, pale olive, 10 x 4— 

 5 fi. 



VOL. I. U 



