Brown birch bolete

How to recognise it: brown birch bolete

1. 1

   White stem with black scales

2. 2

   Grows only with birches

3. 3

   Brown cap

4. 4

   Flesh does not change colour

Description

Cap

3–20 cm across, light to dark brown, hazelnut or grey-brown; slightly slimy when wet.

Tubes and pores

Tubes and pores whitish, then grey-brown; do not change colour when damaged.

Stem

Slender, whitish, densely covered with dark brown to black scales (scabers).

Flesh

White, firm in young specimens, watery in old ones; does not change colour when cut (at most slightly).

Smell and taste

Smell and taste pleasant, faint.

Where and when it grows

Always near birches (mycorrhizal) – in broadleaf and mixed forests, also outside forests; more often in dry or moderately moist places.

Most often with: birch

Where are conditions good today?

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Bitter bolete Inedible medium risk

  The bitter bolete has no black scales on the stem, only a dark network; its pores turn pink with age and its taste is extremely bitter.

• 

  Hazel bolete Edible low risk

  The hazel bolete grows under hornbeams/hazel, has a wrinkled cap that cracks in dry weather, and its flesh turns pink when cut, then black. Edible.

• 

  Red aspen bolete Edible low risk

  The brown birch bolete has a brown cap and black scales on the stem, and grows under birch. Edible. Not in this atlas: Leccinum versipelle (orange birch bolete; under birches, scales black from youth) – edible.

In the kitchen

Frying, stewing, soups, drying, preserving. Stems of older fruit bodies are tough – discard them. Darkens during cooking.

Protection and sale

• Species protection: the species is not protected.
• Sale: the species is on the list of mushrooms approved for sale (it may be sold only with a mushroom inspector’s certificate).

Where you may pick mushrooms →