MUSHROOMS 



THE BOLETI 



IF you look on the under side of this mushroom for 

 gills you will not find them. It is one of those plants 

 that have their spores inside of tubes or pores. All 

 such mushrooms are called pol'y-po-ri, or "many 

 pores." 



A great number of these fungi are found on the 

 trunks of trees, where they grow larger and larger each 

 year. But this mushroom did not grow on a tree. It 

 came up out of the ground, just as the common meadow 

 mushroom and the fairy-ring did. Instead of springing 

 up in the grass it grew under the trees in the woods, 

 where we found it during the month of July. 



While this fungus belongs to the order of the Poly- 

 pori, it is called also the boletus. If we speak of 

 a number of these plants together we call them the 

 boleti. 



The cap of a boletus is soft and thick, like a cushion, 

 and feels like velvet to the touch. 



The plant in the picture is known as the edible 

 boletus. It is white and firm and somewhat sweet. 

 The young plants taste like raw chestnuts. 



The upper surface of the cap of the edible boletus 

 is brown. The tube part is white when the mush- 

 room is young. Later it becomes yellow or a yellowish 

 green. 



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