Order Hymenomycetes Tribe Pileati  

Boletus luridus* Fr. 

Name—luridus, lurid in color  

Species Characters. B. luridus Pileus convex, then expanded, three to six inches across, varies in color, but most commonly reddish brown, sometimes pinkish, minutely tomentose; flesh turns blue when cut or broken; tubes yellowish green, free, round the orifices bordered with a rich shade of crimson or bright orange; stem three to four inches high, solid, bulbous, variable in appearance, sometimes reticulated with the brightest shades of red & yellow, then nearly smooth, tomentose, always more or less marked with bright red & yellow at the apex, shading into reddish brown at the base. Spores ochraceous yellow or greenish-gray elliptical, 0.00018’ × 0.00044’. It is impossible to preserve this plant by drying. It decomposes so rapidly that in a few hours after gathering it becomes a mucilaginous mass crowded with larvae. It is common. The above sketch gives the figures of the only two that I found last August 1876 they were growing beside a public road that intersected a dense-woods in Baltimore County, Maryland. Deleterious. Mr. W. G. Smith says he has known them to be eaten without any evil effects. “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Taste perfectly nauseous. Rev J Stevenson says the taste is pleasant. Druid Hill Park 1876. Spore measure given in Cooke’s Hand-book 0.0006. × 0.00035. inch oval, greenish slate color.