Orange birch bolete

Overview

Orange birch bolete, Leccinum versipelle, is a bolete of the family Boletaceae. It grows on the ground, alone or in groups, in an ectomycorrhizal partnership with birch trees. Its cap is orange to brick red and felty, and its stipe is covered in dark scabers.

The species is harvested for food in several northern and eastern European countries. Its flesh turns black in cooking, a change that does not affect the taste, according to one foraging guide.

Names and taxonomy

Synonyms include Boletus versipellis Fr. and Hok (1835) and Leccinum atrostipitatum A.H. Sm., Thiers and Watling (1966). Other names are Boletus testaceoscaber and dark-stalked bolete.

The genus Leccinum is recognised by the small, rigid scabers on the stalk.

Habitat and ecology

The species forms ectomycorrhizal partnerships with birch, Betula, and grows in forests and heathland on sandy, slightly acidic, loamy soils. Wikipedia gives the season as mainly August to November.

The catalogue records the species as birch-associated and wild-supplied in Northern Europe.

Food use and cooking

The species is treated as edible when cooked. Galloway Wild Foods suggests young, firm specimens for most mushroom dishes and large, spongy specimens for drying. Gone71 notes that large specimens soften with age and are usually not suitable to eat.

Wikipedia gives the heat treatment as frying or boiling for 15 to 20 minutes. Gone71 cites at least 15 minutes. Both guides advise against eating it raw.

Safety

The catalogue marks this species as a conditional record: inadequate cooking has been associated with illness. Wikipedia describes the species as mildly toxic, causing nausea and vomiting, unless it receives proper heat treatment. No specific toxin is named in these sources.

Some sources report upset stomach in people who eat it without thorough cooking. The sources do not give a toxicity figure for properly cooked specimens.

This page is not an identification guide. Do not eat a wild bolete on the basis of this page, and do not eat any wild mushroom raw. Confirm identity with an expert before eating any wild fungus.

Lookalikes

Galloway Wild Foods and Gone71 warn about related orange boletes. The orange oak bolete, Leccinum aurantiacum, is described as edible, and the orange aspen bolete is also described as edible, though some reports of problems exist for the aspen species. Sources do not give a full comparison of features for telling them apart.

Open questions

The sources do not give a clinical study of the illness or a toxin profile, and most food guidance comes from foraging websites rather than peer-reviewed work. The catalogue's review label stays open pending individual record review.