200 EEPOET OF THE STATE BOTANIST 



Other variations in color are sometimes seen. The epidermis 

 of the cap sometimes cracks into small angular areas or scales, 

 which give it a peculiar appearance. This form has been desig- 

 nated as Yar. areolaris, but neither this nor the varieties depend- 

 ing on color alone have a very substantial basis. They are 

 probably mere forms rather than true varieties. 



Cap one to five inches broad, stem two to five inches long, one- 

 third to two-thirds of an inch thick. 



The Rough-stemmed boletus occurs everywhere in woods, 

 swamps and open places, and in sandy, gravelly, loamy or clayey 

 soil. It may be found from June to November. It is easily 

 recognized by its peculiar stem, no other species, except the 

 Orange-cap boletus, having a stem like it. The dots are very 

 different in character from those on the stems of the Granulated 

 boletus and the Small-yellowish boletus. They are dry and 

 fibrous, and not formed by the drying and hardening of a thick 

 juice, as in those species. 



Authors differ in their estimate of the edible qualities of this 

 boletus. Some simjily pronounce it edible ; others say it is less 

 agreeable than the Edible boletus, which is generally preferred to 

 it. Gillet says that it can be eaten without the least fear, but 

 that young plants should be selected for the table, old ones being 

 generally more difficult of digestion. My own experiments with 

 it were highly gratifying, and lead me to consider it a first-class 

 species for the table. 



Boletus edulis Ball. 



Edible Eoletus. 



Plate 36. Figs. 8 to 12. 



Pileus glabrous, compact, becoming soft with age, grayish-red, 

 brownish-red or tawny-brown, often paler on the margin, the 

 flesh white or tinged with yellow, reddish under the epidermis ; 

 tubes soon convex, depressed around the stem, at first whitish, 

 becoming greenish-yellow ; stem stout, equal or thickened at the 

 base, reticulated in the upper part, sometimes wholly reticulated, 

 solid, pale or brownish ; spores oblong-fusiform, .0005 to .0006 

 in. long. 



The Edible boletus is one of our large species, though it is by 

 no means as common as desirable. When young the cap is firm 

 and the tubes white, with their mouths very indistinct. With 



