_Peck_, Boleti of the U.S.
=B. minia´to-oliva´ceus= Frost—olive-red. =Pileus= at first convex and
firm, then nearly plane, soft and spongy, glabrous, vermilion, becoming
olivaceous. =Flesh= pale-yellow, changing to blue where wounded. =Tubes=
bright lemon-yellow, adnate or subdecurrent. =Stem= glabrous, enlarged
at the top, pale-yellow, brighter within, sometimes lurid at the base.
=Spores= 12.5×6µ.
Var. _sensi´bilis_ (Boletus sensibilis Rep. 32, p. 33).
=Pileus= at first pruinose-tomentose, red, becoming glabrous and
ochraceous-red with age. =Tubes= bright-yellow tinged with green,
becoming sordid-yellow. =Stem= lemon-yellow with red or rhubarb stains
at the base, contracted at the top when young, subcespitose. =Spores=
10–12.5×4–5µ.
=Pileus= 2–6 in. broad. =Stem= 3–4 in. long, 3–6 lines thick.
Woods and their borders. New England, _Frost_; New York, _Peck_.
Though the sensitive Boletus differs considerably in some respects from
the olive-red Boletus, it is probably only a variety, and as such I have
subjoined it here. In it every part of the plant quickly changes to blue
where wounded, and even the pressure of the fingers in handling the
fresh specimens is sufficient to induce this change of color. I have not
found the typical plant in New York, but specimens received from Mr.
Frost are not, in the dry state, distinguishable from the variety.
_Peck_, Boleti of the U.S.
Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; West Virginia. Haddonfield, N.J. Cheltenham,
Pa., _McIlvaine_.
Years ago I marked it edible and excellent when young. My friends have
eaten it, and continue to do so. Yet Professor Peck (48th Rep., p. 202)
reports a case brought to his notice of an entire family being sickened
by eating B. sensibilis. All recovered. It may, therefore, be one of
those species which, while disagreeing with some persons, can be eaten
by the majority. Clitocybe illudens, Lepiota Morgani and others of the
Agaricaceæ are such species.
[Illustration: Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.
PLATE CXVII.]
FIG. PAGE. FIG. PAGE.
1–2. BOLETUS BICOLOR, 425 4. BOLETUS PALLIDUS, 429