Aspen Bolete

(Leccinum insigne)

Conservation Status
Aspen Bolete
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

not listed

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Aspen Bolete is a common and widespread mushroom. It is found on the ground, widely scattered or in groups, in woods and woodland edges under aspen and possibly also under birch. It obtains its nutrients from the rootlets of trees (mycorrhizal). It appears in the summer and early fall, August to October.

The cap is hairless or minutely hairy, dry, and bright orange, reddish-orange, orangish-brown, or cinnamon. It is slightly slippery to the touch when wet. When young, in the button stage, it is round to convex and smooth, and there are usually flaps of sterile tissue attached to the margin. The cap spreads out as it ages. Mature caps are 2 to 6¾ wide, broadly convex to nearly flat, duller or paler in color, and sometimes pitted.

The stalk is firm, solid, somewhat tough and fibrous, and dry. It is 2 to 6 tall and to 1 thick, sometimes thicker at the base. It is white or whitish and covered by numerous short, rough, projecting scales (scabers). The scabers are whitish or pale at first, becoming reddish-brown to orange as they age, then black at maturity. The base of the stalk turns blue when cut.

The are no gills. There is a sponge-like layer of tubes on the underside of the cap. The tubes and tube openings (pores) are whitish or pale when young, becoming olive-buff to gray or yellowish-buff with age. They do not turn blue when bruised.

The flesh is thick and often soft. It turns bluish-gray or purplish-gray when bruised or cut, but that may take a long time. Most sources state that all mushrooms in the genus Leccinum are safe to eat. Recently, however, Aspen Bolete has been known (or thought) to cause gastrointestinal distress in some individuals.

The spore print is brown to yellowish-brown.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Orange-capped, scaber-stalked mushrooms in North America have often been identified as Red-Capped Scaber Stalk (Leccinum aurantiacum), even in printed guides and on popular mushroom Websites. However, recent DNA analysis suggests that Red-Capped Scaber Stalk is a European species that does not occur in North America. Those orange-capped misidentifications associated with broadleaved trees are most likely Aspen Bolete.

 
     
 
Habitat and Hosts
 
 

On the ground under aspen and possibly birch

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Season

 
 

Summer and early fall

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 7, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

 
  10/20/2023      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Fungi (fungi)  
  Subkingdom Dikarya  
  Division Basidiomycota (club fungi)  
  Subdivision Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)  
  Class Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)  
  Subclass Agaricomycetidae  
  Order Boletales (boletes and allies)  
  Suborder Boletineae  
  Family Boletaceae (boletes)  
  Subfamily Leccinoideae  
  Genus Leccinum  
  Subsection Leccinum  
       
 

This species was first described in 1966 and named after the Italian soccer player Lorenzo Insigne. It means “distinctive or outstanding.”

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Boletus aurantiacus

Krombholzia aurantiaca

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Orange Bolete

Aspen Bolete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Mycorrhizal

A symbiotic, usually beneficial relationship between a fungus and the tiny rootlets of a plant, usually a tree.

 

Pore

In boletes and polypores; the mouth-like opening at the end of the spore-producing tube.

 
 
Visitor Photos
 
           
 

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Luciearl

 
    Aspen Bolete   Aspen Bolete  
           
    Aspen Bolete      
           
 

Not sure if this one's okay, cut and brought home. Animals thought they were tasty!

  Aspen Bolete  
 

Lacy Herron

 
    Aspen Bolete      
 

Christine Schmidt

 
    Aspen Bolete   Aspen Bolete  
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
    Aspen Bolete   Aspen Bolete  
           
    Aspen Bolete      

 

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Slideshows
 
 
     
     

 

slideshow

       
 
Visitor Videos
 
       
 

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Other Videos
 
  Minnesota aspen bolete mushroom
jensonmin
 
   
 
About

Uploaded on Jun 10, 2009

Aspen bolete found June 9, 2009 in the Twin Cities metro area.

   
  Aspen Boletes
jensonmin
 
   
 
About

Uploaded on Aug 11, 2009

aspen boletes in august

   
  Bolete Mushroom (Boletes) Close-up
Carl Barrentine
 
   
 
About

Uploaded on Aug 28, 2010

Photographed at the Rydell NWR, Minnesota (27 August 2010). Go here to see a related video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbfwzQcBlOQ

   

 

Camcorder

 
 
Visitor Sightings
 
           
 

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  Luciearl
October 2023

Location: Cass County

Aspen Bolete  
  Luciearl
10/9/2023

Location: Cass County

Aspen Bolete  
  Lacy Herron
8/21/2019

Location: Brainerd MN, Crow Wing County

Aspen Bolete  
  Christine Schmidt
8/4/2019

Location: Hubbard County, Akeley MN

Aspen Bolete  
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings
 
   

 

 

Binoculars


Created 3/18/2019

Last Updated:

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