Leccinum chalybaeum

Very firm, shorter salt & pepper stem. Flesh bruises pinkish, aging toward dark purplish gray. Whitish pores are depressed by the stem & bruise olive/brownish. Likes sandy soil near oak.

SKU: Leccinum scabrum-1 Categories: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Description

Name in North American Boletes: Leccinum chalybaeum

By Arleen Bessette

Genus: Leccinum

Species: chalybaeum

  • Species 2: scabrum var. chalybaeum

Common Name:

Tells: Very firm, shorter salt & pepper stem. Flesh bruises pinkish, aging toward dark purplish gray. Whitish pores are depressed by the stem & bruise olive/brownish. Likes sandy soil near oak.

Other Information: Cap is viscid when fresh (often shiny when dry). Cap color starts pinkish buff & ages toward dingy yellow brown, often w/”steel gray” tints (esp. by the edge). A southern species. It’s not “chalcybeum,” “chalcybaeum”, or “chalybeum” but enough people misspell it to enter the keywords [laugh].

Science Notes:

Edibility: Good.

CHEMICAL TESTS:

  • NH4OH (Ammonia): Flesh slowly turns pale greenish blue.
  • KOH: Flesh turns yellow.
  • FeSO4 (Iron Salts): Flesh turns greenish blue.

Links:

National Audubon Society Field guide to Mushrooms, Gary Lincoff  0 Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians  0 North American Boletes 200 245

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