Howdy, Y'all.
The rain has delivered! While in the field, I came upon these boletes, which I'm pretty sure are
Boletus rubellus. I'm not sure if I'm going to try eating them, given what the
mushroom
expert has to say about
this species.
Arora says this species may be edible, but as the old saw goes, "there are old mycologists, and there are bold mycologists, but there are few old, bold mycologists".
These particular mushrooms were in a pine plantation with some oaks mixed in, which has a pretty high water table. The stipes (stems) are pretty thin compared to other boletes, which can be quite
bulbous. And, of course, there's the blue stain reaction, as demonstrated at the top right, there.
Boletes are
ectomycorrhizal, which explains why they tend to be found only in certain types of forests.
