Caloboletus marshii, commonly known as Ben's bitter bolete,[2][3] is a species of mushroom in the family Boletaceae. It is not poisonous, but it is too bitter to eat.[2][3] It turns blue when cut or bruised, and it grows under live oak.[3]
Caloboletus marshii was first unofficially described by David Arora as Boletus "marshii" in his book Mushrooms Demystified, which was first published in 1979 and later revised in 1986.[2][1][4] In 2014, Jonathan L. Frank formally described the species as Caloboletus marshii.[1]
Description
The cap of Caloboletus marshii is about 2-6 inches (6-15 cm) across, and the stipe is about 1-4 inches (3-10 cm) long and 0.7-4 inches (3-10 cm) wide.[3] The pore surface and the flesh are yellow, and quickly turn blue when bruised or cut.[3][2]
Similar species
Caloboletus marshii can be confused with the brown butter bolete, Butryiboletus persolidus.[3] It can also be confused with the white king bolete, Boletus barrowsii, which doesn't bruise blue as much as Caloboletus marshii.[3][5]
Habitat and ecology
Caloboletus marshii is a mycorrhizal fungus that grows under live oaks in California,[2][4]Oregon, and Washington.[4] It fruits in late summer and fall, often before the rains come. It is rarely found fruiting in November.[3]
Edibility and discovery
Caloboletus marshii is inedible due to its extremely bitter taste. However, this didn't stop a man named Ben Marsh from repeatedly trying to make it edible. This brought the mushroom to David Arora's attention, and he named it after Ben Marsh.[2][3][4]
1 2 3 4 5 6 Arora, David (1986). Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi (2nded.). Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. ISBN978-0-89815-169-5.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Schwarz, Christian; Siegel, Noah (2016). Mushrooms of the redwood coast: a comprehensive guide to the fungi of coastal northern California. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. ISBN978-1-60774-817-5.
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