Gyroporus castaneus (Fries) Quelet

COMMON NAME: Chestnut Bolete.

CAP: (3-10 cm) wide, rounded to broadly convex, becoming flat or slightly depressed; surface finely velvety to nearly smooth, dry, not sticky or slimy, chestnut-brown to yellow-brown or orange-brown; margin often split and flaring in age; flesh brittle, white, not staining blue when cut or bruised, staining brownish in KOH and FeSO4; odor and taste not distinctive.

PORE SURFACE: whitish to buff or yellowish, never pinkish or flesh colored, not blueing when cut or bruised; pores circular, 1-3 per mm.

STALK: (3-9 cm) long, (6-16 mm) thick, equal or often swollen in the middle or below, often constricted at the apex and base, brittle, stuffed with a soft pith developing several cavities or becoming hollow in age, surface uneven, not reticulate, colored like the cap or slightly paler toward the apex; partial veil and ring absent.

SPORE PRINT: pale yellow to buff.

MICROSCOPIC FEATURES: spores 8-13 x 5-6 μm, elliptic to ovoid, smooth, hyaline.

FRUITING: solitary, scattered, or in groups on the ground under mixed conifers and hardwoods; late June-October; fairly common.

EDIBILITY: edible.


  From Mushrooms of Northeastern North America
Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette, & David W. Fischer 
Copright © 1997
Syracuse University, ISBN 0-8156-0388-6