REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 



299 



advancing age the cap becomes softer and more yielding to pres- 

 sure and the tubes assume a greenish-yellow or greenish-ochra- 

 ceous hue and their mouths are then distinct. In color the cap 

 is quite variable, exhibiting a mixture of red, yellow and brown 

 hues. It is most often tawny-brown or reddish-brown on the 

 disk, with paler and yellowish hues on the margin. The flesh is 

 tinged with red under the cuticle. 



The tubes form a convex mass, being depressed around the 

 stem. 



The stem is stout, solid and firm. It is adorned with a fine 

 network of raised lines just below the tubes, and sometimes these 

 reticulations extend to the base. It is most often somewhat 

 swollen or thickened toward the base. Its color is generally 

 paler than that of the cap, it being brownish or yellowish-brown 

 or dingy white. 



Cap four to six inches broad, stem two to six inches long, one- 

 half to one and a half inch thick. 



The Edible boletus grows in groves, woods and their borders, 

 and sometimes in open waste places. It occurs in warm, showery 

 weather, during July and August. It holds a prominent place 

 among edible boleti, just as the common mushroom does among 

 edible agarics. It has long been known as an edible species, and 

 on this account its reputation has become widely spread. It has 

 an agreeable, nutty flavor, even when raw, and it has secured 

 favorable mention from nearly all writers on this subject. Bad- 

 ham recommends, especially, this and the Kough-stemmed 

 boletus. Gillet says it is an excellent species, with an agreeable 

 flavor, and that it is largely consumed in some parts of France. 

 It is also cut in slices and dried for future use, and in this way is 

 sold in the markets of Europe. 



Boletus castaneus Bull. 

 Chestnut Boletus. 



Plate 36. Figs. 1 to 7. 



Pileus convex, becoming nearly plane or depressed, dry, firm, 

 at first minutely velvety, commonly reddish-tawny or cinnamon, 

 flesh white, unchangeable ; tubes short, small, at first white, 

 becoming yellowish ; stem firm, short, stuffed or hollow, colored 



