Butter-Foot Bolete

  Another new-to-me mushroom that has popped up all over my yard this week. I'm pretty sure this is Boletus auripes, the butter-foot bolete. I'm showing you the underside of the cap first, so you can see the pores. The pores, instead of gills, is what tells me it's a bolete.

These can get bigger, but the ones in my yard are hunkered down in the grass. I noticed them while hunting for a clothespin that the wind catching a sheet like a sail had sent soaring many feet away. Here's what they look like in the grass. The tops sometimes become brown.

When you break the cap the color is yellow clear through, and the bruised flesh doesn't stain any other color.

The stem can be reticulated- netted or broken into a patchwork design. A giraffe's spots are reticulated. So, I think that's a yes.

I only found one other yellow bolete in the guides, and it has one of those fat stems, so it's not a good match for these. That's two new boletes in my yard this summer!

In other news: I was having a tired day today, but that doesn't mean I can rest. It only means I get to work while tired. Laundry, trail food, of course another trip to stores and errands, worked on the trailer (and already need something else that I didn't get today). I did parts of many projects, but can you believe I don't get to cross off a single thing? Grrr. But I may finish one yet tonight. All too often, I get to a place on a particular job that has to wait for X, or to let Y dry, or requires person Z to respond... so I can't continue until that piece is complete. If I finish something tonight, I'll get to count it for tomorrow. Can I make myself do some more things this evening? 31 BIG ITEMS to do (31 done) and 24 small ones to do (14 done). 33 days to go.

See Bicolor Bolete

Bicolor Bolete

  It's been mighty wet here lately. So much so that mushrooms are popping up in my yard. Imagine my surprise to see one that is completely new to me. After all, mushrooms don't appear willy-nilly. This means the fungus had been growing here underground until conditions were right for it to send up the fruiting body.

I'm pretty sure this is Bicolor Bolete, Baorangia bicolor. Something has eaten about half of the largest one in this group.

Often, I don't like to pick mushrooms in the forest because it's nice to leave them for other people to see. I feel so such compunction when it is growing one step off my porch. So here is the underside of one of the smaller caps. Boletes are characterized by having netted pores on the undersurface, rather than gills.

The only other candidate as far is the ID goes is Boletus sensibilis. Sensibilis is poisonous and bicolor is not. But there is an easy way to tell them apart. The pore surface of the bicolor one bruises a dark blue within seconds of being crushed. Yup. Supposedly, this one is edible, but I'm not trying it without more expert advice. Death by mushroom- often having your liver digested until you die- has never appealed to me.

I'll leave you with the dramatic view! I do wonder what ate half of the big cap. Something knows it's edible. Slugs like mushrooms, but this really looks chewed.

In other news: I edited, I researched and wrote a chapter. I walked to Scottville and did errands, I did some preliminary figuring for the next steps in the trailer. A nice cool day- very pleasant.

See Frost's Bolete- Confirmed