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Chestnut Bolete
(Gyroporus castaneus)
Chestnut in Husk
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Chestnut Bolete sculptures

Chestnut Boletes

Notice how the pores abutting the stalk of the specimen on the right are deeply sunken
This bolete has a dry, convex to flat, chestnut-brown cap 1-1/4 to 4 inches across. The white flesh doesn't change color when bruised.

Chestnut Bolete

Chestnut Bolete, side view
The pores, deeply sunken around the stem, are white at first. Later on, the yellow spores color them yellow.

The light-brown, hollow stalk is 1-1/4 to 3-1/2 inches long, 1/4 to 3/8 inches thick, but much thicker near the base.

Chestnut Bolete, from below

Chestnut Bolete, from below

Notice that the pore surface of this young specimen is white, while the sculpture (top, right) was modeled after an older specimens with yellow pores

This mushroom grows under hardwoods from early summer to early fall in eastern North America, and occasionally under live oaks on the West Coast.

This is a choice mushroom, especially delicious, but you usually find too few to make a meal, and you have to collect it while the pores are still white. By the time they turn yellow, the mushroom is full of maggots.