Boletus barrowsii
King Bolete, Cepe, Steinpilz, Porcini

    The reddish brown King Bolete is the backbone of the mushroom collectors culinary gatherings in the Southwest. Not only is this mushroom an excellent edible, but it fruits in profusion in most years. When the summer rains come and the humidity is high and the temperatures warm, this bolete fruits both high in mountains under the Spruce-fir and also in the more extensive Ponderosa Pine forests. It often fruits, coincidentally, with the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).
    In those years when the mountain temperatures are moderate and the rains abundant, the King Bolete is relatively free of insect larvae. The relative abundance and quality of this bolete have begun to cause problems by commercial collectors taking a larger proportion of the crop each year. It is particularly important that the large, overmature fruit bodies be left in the forest to provide spores for future bolete crops. A related species is Boletus barrowsii (Barrows' King Bolete) which grows in Ponderosa Pine forest and less commonly in Spruce-fir. It is much paler tan, but other wise very similar to the King Bolete.

Bill Isaacs
1996-12-30

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