Leccinum versipelle
| Leccinum versipelle | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Boletales |
| Family: | Boletaceae |
| Genus: | Leccinum |
| Species: | L. versipelle
|
| Binomial name | |
| Leccinum versipelle | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Leccinum versipelle, also known as Boletus testaceoscaber, dark-stalked bolete, or orange birch bolete, is a common species of mushroom that may be edible when given the right preparation. It is found below birches from July through to November, and turns black when cooked.
Taxonomy
[edit]Leccinum is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. It was the name given first to a series of fungi within the genus Boletus, then erected as a new genus last century. Their main distinguishing feature is the small, rigid projections (scabers) that give a rough texture to their stalks. The genus name was coined from the Italian Leccino, for a type of rough-stemmed bolete.
Description
[edit]The cap is broadly convex, buff to yellow-orange or ochre, bright red-brown or brick red. It is felty and grows up to 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter.[1] The flesh is white to pink, when cut staining reddish and then changing to avellaneous and finally fuscous. Tubes are 8 - 22 mm long, yellowish white to brownish grey, violaceous to greyish when bruised. Pores measure 0.5 mm in diameter, greyish white to grey ochre, discolouring brownish when bruised.[2]
The stipe is firm, long and slender, white, lightly to densely covered with fine (sometimes on the stipe base more coarse) greyish to blackish, sometimes whitish, squamules.[2] Stalks are up to 15 cm tall[1] by 3.5 cm wide, whitish, and with many raised, black dots.
The spores are brown, or smokey to blackish-brown, fusiform, (9.0—) 11.5—16.5 x 3.5—4.0(—5.0) μm.[2] Spore print is yellow-brown to olive.[citation needed]
-
Orange birch bolete (Leccinum versipelle), New Jersey, US -
Stem of a Leccinum mushroom, showing the distinctive scabers
Distribution and habitat
[edit]Leccinum versipelle fruits on the ground solitary or gregarious, with ectomycorrhizal association with Betula in forests and heathland, on sandy, slightly acidic, loamy soils.[2][3] It can be found across Europe from August to November.[1]
Edibility
[edit]Leccinum versipelle is edible cooked.[1] It is mildly toxic (causing nausea and vomiting) unless given proper heat treatment: frying or boiling for 15–20 minutes is necessary. It is commonly harvested for food in Finland,[4] Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, southeast Alaska and Russia.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Francis-Baker, Tiffany (2021). Concise Foraging Guide. The Wildlife Trusts. London: Bloomsbury. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-4729-8474-6.
- ^ a b c d Bakker, Henk den; Noordeloos, Machiel (January 2005). "A revision of European species of Leccinum gray and notes on extralimital species". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2023-11-30. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
- ^ George Barron: Mushrooms of Northeast North America
- ^ Ohenoja, Esteri; Koistinen, Riitta (1984). "Fruit body production of larger fungi in Finland. 2: Edible fungi in northern Finland 1976–1978". Annales Botanici Fennici. 21 (4): 357–66. JSTOR 23726151.
- E. Garnweidner. Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe. Collins. 1994.