Summary:
Features include 1) a red-brown to yellow brown cap that is dry and velvety to smooth, 2) white unchanging flesh that is firm and brittle, 3) white to pale yellow pores and tubes neither of which turn blue, 4) a hollow stem colored like cap or slightly paler, 5) growth under hardwoods, 6) yellow spore deposit, and 7) microscopic characters including clamp connections.

Chemical Reactions:
cap cuticle stains yellow then bleaches to white with application of KOH and is negative with FeSO4, flesh stains very pale brownish or is negative with application of KOH or FeSO4, (Bessette)

Odor:
not distinctive (Bessette)

Taste:
not distinctive (Bessette), hazelnut (Lincoff(1)), mild, slightly acidic (Miller)

Microscopic:
spores 8-12 x 4.5-6 microns, elliptic-oblong, smooth, (Arora), spores 8-13 x 5-6 microns, elliptic to oval, smooth, colorless, (Bessette), spores 10-12.5(14) x 5-6 microns, elliptic, smooth, ochraceous in Melzer''s reagent, colorless to pale yellow in KOH, thin-walled; basidia 4-spored, 30-35 x 8-14 microns, clavate, colorless to pale yellow in KOH; hymenial cystidia abundant, 30-45 x 7-11 microns, fusoid to obscurely fusoid-ventricose, colorless, thin-walled; cap cuticle a layer of cystidioid cells forming a tangled trichodermium; stem cuticle similar to cap cuticle; clamp connections present, (Thiers), spores lacking germ pore; clamp connections present, but many pseudoclamps also present, (Smith)

Spore Deposit:
pale yellow to yellow, (Arora), pale yellow to buff (Bessette)

Notes:
Gyroporus castaneus is found in CA, WA, and OR, (Thiers), from eastern Canada south to FL, west to CA, and Mexico, (Bessette), NS (Grund), and Europe (Arora). Collections from BC are deposited at the Pacific Forestry Centre.

EDIBILITY

yes (Bessette)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Boletinus ochraceoroseus Snell
Boletus castaneus Fr.
Fuscoboletinus ochraceoroseus (Snell) Pomerl. & A.H. Sm.