The boletes of Michigan, by Alexander H. Smith and Harry D. Thiers.

BOLETUS

327

some hyaline adhering debris, walls thin and in KOH the outermost
slightly gelatinous, end-cells merely tubular and obtuse. Context of hyaline interwoven hyphae with abundant oleiferous hyphae near the cutis,
these ochraceous in KOH and Melzer's. Clamp connections absent. All
hyphae inamyloid under the microscope.
Habit, habitat, and distribution.-Gregarious in beech-maple woods,
summer and early fall mostly in the Upper Peninsula but known from
Washtenaw County also, rather rare.
Observations.-For years this species has passed under the name B.
peckii in Michigan. It has a strong resemblance to the European B.
appendiculatus, as Watling noted upon seeing fresh material. Singer
(1967) has given a detailed account of the European species in which
the cuticle is described as "ein Trichoderm aus fadingen Hyphen, deren
Endglieder oft keulig bis fast an der Spitze verdict sind, keine Pallisade
bildend." Our species lacks upright hyphae in the cuticle of the pileus,
in fact it has a cuticle of interwoven hyphae in which the end-cells are
not enlarged. Our bolete also lacks a positive (green) FeSO4 reaction.
This combination of features we regard as sufficient to distinguish B.
pseudopeckii from the European B. appendiculatus. From B. peckii it
differs in its constantly mild taste, a feature tested over a period of
twenty years. Also, Frost's description (in Peck, Rept. 29) indicates the
stipe as strongly reticulate, a feature never observed in our species. In
ours the reticulum is so fine that it takes a hand lens to discern it in
freshly matured specimens. Frost also indicated the stipe as red with a
yellow' apex, but in ours the stipe is yellow at first and develops some
reddish tints on maturing. B. pseudopeckii differs from B. speciosus in
the less stable red pigment of the pileus. This is reflected in the brilliant
red of the latter at maturity or in age.
176. Boletus peckii Frost in Peck
Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 29:45. 1878
Ceriomyces peckii (Peck) Murrill, Mycologia 1:151. 1909.
Illus. Figs. 63, 65.
The original description is quoted as follows:
"Pileus dry, firm minutely tomentulose, red, fading to buff-brown,
the margin usually retaining its color longer than the disk; tubes nearly
plane, adnate or slightly decurrent, yellow, turning blue when wounded;
stem equal or subventricose, strongly reticulated, red, yellow at the top;
spores ochraceous-brown, oblong,.00035'-.0004' long.