Need help identifying bolete

Hi everyone, I went through a hike in the woods today (in central NC) and saw some pretty cool mushrooms. I am still a beginner at identifying them and would love some help. I know it's a bolete but I couldn't find any good matches when I searched on the interwebs. There were TONS of these in the forest! It has a really distinct stem. Fungi experts, what are your thoughts?

not a expert by any means but looks like a boletus russellii or russells bolete. thats what my bolete book says. not many have that rough stipe. makes for easier i.d. neat looking bolete! its edible.

Thank you for input Steve! I concurred with your ID until I posted to mushroomobserver.org and it was ID as Heimioporus betula. http://www.mushroomexpert.com/heimioporus_betula.html. They are quite similar though!

yeah i saw that one too. they're both very similar. thats why i invested in a bolete book. if i went by the keys in it i would have had a proper id. i just glanced at the pics this time.

out of curiousity, what bolete book (or other useful field guides for that matter) do you have? I just got David Auroras massive Mushrooms Demystified, but it's not exactly field friendly. I would say that maybe half the mushrooms I see around here are boletes! Thank you.

I've got nothing to add on the ID front, but great find. Beautiful.

I bring home boletes for the table regularly, especially at this time of year. They're some of my favorites.

eliza Mason wrote:out of curiousity, what bolete book (or other useful field guides for that matter) do you have? I just got David Auroras massive Mushrooms Demystified, but it's not exactly field friendly. I would say that maybe half the mushrooms I see around here are boletes! Thank you.

i have North American Boletes by alan and arleen bessette and william roody. not a light field guide but has a lot of the boletes and similar species that have been identified. a good field guide is the national audubon societies field guide to north american mushrooms by gary lincoff. a nice compact book with good color photos and a durable cover. if you only have one book this is the best one.

I think we need to remember that this is a permaculture site and not really a mushroom ID site. There are many mushroom ID sites on the web. This is not one. We talk more about using mushrooms, cultivating mushrooms, and how to use different fungi.
John S
PDX OR

wild mushrooms can and will grow in cultivated mushroom beds. I've had 3 varieties in my king stropharia beds. it pays to have books to identify these mushrooms for safety. if you i.d. a edible it is one more food source. i pick king boletes right beside my cultured beds. just trying to help someone to know what they're eating. not everything on a permaculture project is always something purposely put there.

I don't think it's beyond a permaculture forum to discuss identifying and foraging for wild mushrooms. A large number of these posts have been extremely informative to me and have resulted in enjoyable, lively discussion. Plus, like Steve mentioned, you don't always know what will show up in your food forest; the less ignorant we are the better! I also like the idea of helping fellow permies (and receiving help) on issues that may be slightly (or exceedingly) tangential.

However, I have recently discovered the fascinating MushroomObserver.org website; in the future, and I will go there for the majority of my IDs. Thank you all for the input!

I don't want people using only this site to decide if they should eat a mushroom. I don't have problems with people discussing mushroom ID or talking about wild mushrooms that may have shown up in their cultivated mushrooms. That happens to me too. Your points are well taken. Anyone thinking about eating a mushroom should use several sources of knowledge to decide that. A local mushroom club is a great resource. Mushroom Observer is another great resource. There are several facebook groups that might help you. I think if we have a lot of people taking a picture of a mushroom on their phone and saying, "What is this? Can I eat it?", and someone says yes, they could be in for a world of hurt. Mushrooms are best learned about slowly and carefully. Obviously, the topic of this part of the forum is fungi. Just remember that it is your judgement, based on knowledge from many sources, that should tell you whether you believe you should eat some form of fungi. Some are lethal and dangerous.
John S
PDX OR

i totally understand. just trying to point her in the right direction and give her access to the right info. i do go on other mushroom sites to go into more depth about i.d.ing them. just trying to be helpful. my apologies for getting a little of topic. mycology has been a strong interest for me and i get a little passionate about it. permaculture can't happen without mycrozial fungis help. but i understand this thread shouldn't be about just i.d. ing mushrooms. i do really like this site!

I really enjoy when people post their mushroom pics on here. Wether they are bragging, asking for an ID, or just giving general info.
The fungi bug bit me a few years back starting with chantrelles. My current goal now is to learn ONE just ONE new edible mushroom every year.
Got the common ones out of the way so far.
Chantrelles, chicken of the woods, cauliflower mushroom, and lions mane.

My next few years are looking like they will be devoted to the bolete family.
Starting with old man of the woods this year.

Jay Grace wrote:I really enjoy when people post their mushroom pics on here. Wether they are bragging, asking for an ID, or just giving general info.
The fungi bug bit me a few years back starting with chantrelles. My current goal now is to learn ONE just ONE new edible mushroom every year.
Got the common ones out of the way so far.
Chantrelles, chicken of the woods, cauliflower mushroom, and lions mane.

My next few years are looking like they will be devoted to the bolete family.
Starting with old man of the woods this year.

join your local mycology club and go on their forays. you will learn more from them on just one foray than a whole mushroom book! good hunting! if you like to grow things, try growing your own shrooms in beds. with your warm, wet weather you can probably have a harvest in 3 mo.! real easy to do and lots of shrooms from a 4 by 4 bed! try king stropharia. they're the easiest.