Leccinum holopus (Rostk.) Watling
pale rough-stem
Boletaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
pale rough-stem
Boletaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
Features include a whitish cap that is bald and may be viscid, white unchanging flesh, whitish pores that may bruise yellowish or brownish, a whitish stem with scabers that become brown, and bog habitat. The description here is for var. holopus: var. americanus is nearly identical but the cap is white at first, soon becoming dull vinaceous buff, with white context that changes to reddish when cut, (Bessette).
Chemical Reactions:
cap cuticle displays a pink flash lasting less than one second, then negative, with application of KOH, flesh stains slightly olive with application of FeSO4, (Bessette)
Odor:
not distinctive (Smith)
Taste:
not distinctive (Smith)
Microscopic:
spores 14-20 x 5-6.5 microns, subfusoid [somewhat spindle-shaped], smooth, pale brown, (Bessette), spores 14-20 x 5-6.5 microns, subfusoid, smooth, yellowish in Melzer''s reagent when immature and dark reddish brown when mature, pale dingy cinnamon to ochraceous-cinnamon revived in KOH, no apical pore seen, wall slightly thickened; basidia 4-spored, 26-32 x 8-11 microns, clavate with colorless to pale cinnamon content in KOH, yellowish in Melzer''s reagent; pleurocystidia scattered to rare, almost embedded in hymenium, 28-36 x 9-12 microns, fusoid-ventricose, content not distinctive; cap cuticle a trichodermium of interwoven subgelatinous hyphae 4-7 microns wide, "end-cells tubular to somewhat cystidioid with obtuse apex"; caulocystidia "mostly the fusoid-ventricose type with elongate somewhat flexuous necks and subacute apex", clavate cells also present; clamp connections absent, (Smith)
Spore Deposit:
brown (Bessette), cinnamon-brown (Smith)
Notes:
The distribution of var. holopus as eastern Canada south to New York, west to the northern Rocky Mountains, of var. americanus eastern Canada south to NY, west to MI, (Bessette). L. holopus has been reported from BC and NB (collections at the University of British Columbia), ID (M. Beug, pers. comm.), AK and VT (collections at University of Washington), NS (Grund), and Europe (Breitenbach).
EDIBILITY
yes (Bessette)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Leccinum rotundifoliae has a white to tan or grayish tan cap that becomes pinkish buff to cinnamon-buff or darker (as opposed to L. holopus which has a cap that is whitish to grayish when young, darkening when old and often developing a greenish or olive tinge), (Bessette).Habitat
single to scattered on ground in and around bogs, cedar swamps or wet birch woods, (Bessette), scattered to single in cold bogs, cedar swamps, etc., (Smith), summer to fall, (Buczacki)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Thaxterogaster pinguis (Zeller) Singer & A.H. Sm. Brittonia