The Foxy Bolete - Leccinum Vulpinum
- Aubrey
- Nov 4
- 5 min read
Good morning, friends,
Last week we looked at the choice edible and highly coveted Matsutake, a mushroom that draws many foragers to the outer arm of Cape Cod every October. This week we turn our attention to the foragers’ second choice, Leccinum vulpinum. Brick Cap, Foxy Bolete, and Scaber Stalk are just a few of the common names tossed around for these robust, charismatic boletes (I chose the middle for the title because it’s provocative).
A handful of folks were collecting these in great numbers on our club walk, which I thought was great at the time. However, after I did a little more research, I think we might’ve been too laissez-faire in collecting them for consumption. We’ll learn why. Fortunately, we’re over two weeks out from that walk and I have yet to hear from anyone’s attorney. The statute of limitations has to be right around the corner.
Fun Facts
These mushrooms are confusingly considered both edible and toxic. That may seem contradictory, but believe it or not there are many “edible” mushrooms that carry this distinction. Morels are one. Honey mushrooms, too. Some folks eat them without issues, some have quite an unpleasant experience.
The reactions (and lack thereof) that occur after ingestion of these mushrooms seems to depend on personal sensitivities. I’m also learning firsthand that those personal sensitivities can change as you age. In my life, I’m unfortunately coming to the realization that too much cheese now makes me really mucousy.
One blogger, who goes by The Forager Chef, notes this is the only mushroom he has eaten that gave him severe gastrointestinal distress (he attributes his reaction to undercooking the mushrooms). He recommends that if you’re going to eat Leccinum, you should dehydrate them first to make them more digestible. I’ve heard pickling them is nice, too.
There’s also a story from mushroomer Bill Bakaitis where three people in New Hampshire ate Leccinum mushrooms, and two were hospitalized with symptoms that ranged from gastrointestinal distress to internal bleeding. The third person had no ill-effects at all. Hey, one in three is not the worst odds. Batting .333 will get you into the Baseball Hall of Fame, after all.
To add another level of complexity to the edibility question, these orange Leccinum comprise a species complex (a lot of these mushrooms look similar but are genetically unique). It’s reasonable to think that each of these distinct species have slightly different chemical compositions, and that can also contribute to why different people have different reactions.
These mushrooms are most distinguishable by the black scabers (basically little scabs) that ornament the white stipe. The stipe will also lightly bruise blue, but the compounds responsible are unfortunately not the same chemicals that turn magic mushrooms blue (psilocybin and psilocin). It’s thought that mushrooms bruise blue to deter slug consumption.
A study out of Portugal found that alcohol extracts of the mushroom caused apoptosis in breast cancer cells (but also in healthy cells). Perhaps another reason why the mushrooms don’t sit well with some folks. There’s a different study out of Poland where researchers found that Leccinum Scabrum (the birch bolete) bioaccumulates minerals like Magnesium (Mg) and Potassium (K) which are beneficial nutrients, but they can also harbor less savory elements like Silver (Ag) and Strontium (Sr).
Etymology
The genus Leccinum was first described by the British mycologist Samuel Frederick Gray in The Natural Arrangement of British Plants (published in 1821). The name is derived from the Italian word Leccino which refers to a bolete with a rough stem. In Italian, Leccio is the word for the holm oak (Quercus ilex), so Leccino probably describes a Leccinum that grew mycorrhizally with holm oak.
The specific species L. vulpinum wasn’t described until 1961 by Scottish Mycologist Roy Watling (who is still alive today). The species epithet vulpinum comes the Latin vulpinus, which means “of a fox”, and refers to the color of the cap of this mushroom.
Ecology
The main reason I stuck with the identification of L. vulpinum, which is a European species, for our mushroom was not solely because I like foxes (come on, you know we only adhere to the strictest scientific standards at the MM offices). It was because in Mushrooms traded as food. Vol II sec 2: Nordic risk assessments, the authors note this species grows mycorrhizally with both pines and bearberry (Reference 4). These mushrooms were growing prolifically in pitch pine covered sand dunes with thick patches of bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) scattered across the forest floor.
While there are a ton of different species that look like L. vulpinum, it seems like identifying the mycorrhizal partner is a good way to narrow them down. Some of these fungi pair with oak (Leccinum aurantiacum, Leccinum longicurvipes), some pair with birch (Leccinum scabrum, Leccinum holopus), and others pair with Aspen (L. insigne). These orange-capped boletes are circumboreal, but can also be found in the southern hemisphere, and they grow summer through fall on their respective side of the equator.
The only DNA sequenced Leccinum found on Cape Cod was actually found by my friend Matthew during last year’s NEMF foray. Naturally, that fungus isn’t even a described species yet. The mushroom has the placeholder name “IN-02”, which lacks a certain charm. The “IN” is actually for Indiana, so this is a mushroom that seems to range across eastern North America.
Michael Kuo, of mushroomexpert.com, has devoted some extra attention to the genus Leccinum. He points out that there are two separate groups in the genus: one that forms an underground, truffle-like fruiting body (Leccinum caespitosa), and the other forms the traditional bolete mushroom we see below.
Upcoming Walks
2PM 11/6: Mushroom Walk with the 300 Committee at Grewes Pond (Respond to this email to RSVP)
10AM 11/9 CCMS Mushroom Walk at Old Jail Lane Conservation Area.
Next week we’ve got a mushroom person profile, you’ll have to tune in then to see who’s the special guest. The fun hint is they have a green pickup truck named the “fungi flyer”.
There’s a full moon on Wednesday and apparently it’s the largest supermoon of the year. Sounds like a big one,
Aubrey
References
Kuo, M. (2020, January). The genus Leccinum and leccinoid fungi. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/leccinum.html
Reis FS, Sousa D, Barros L, Martins A, Morales P, Ferreira IC, Vasconcelos MH. Leccinum vulpinum Watling induces DNA damage, decreases cell proliferation and induces apoptosis on the human MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Food Chem Toxicol. 2016 Apr;90:45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2016.02.005. Epub 2016 Feb 6. PMID: 26854920.
Mędyk M, Treu R, Falandysz J. Accumulation of Minerals by Leccinum scabrum from Two Large Forested Areas in Central Europe: Notecka Wilderness and Tuchola Forest (Pinewoods). Chem Biodivers. 2020 Aug;17(8):e2000264. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.202000264. Epub 2020 Jul 27. PMID: 32531137.
https://books.google.com/books?id=487-AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA277#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://foragerchef.com/leccinum-or-scaber-stalk-mushrooms/#:~:text=Modern%20science%20is%20extremely%20valuable,it%20by%20thousands%20of%20years.&text=I%20should%20know%2C%20as%20Leccinum,dehydrate%20every%20Leccinum%20I%20harvest.
https://boletes.wpamushroomclub.org/the-red-and-orange-capped-leccinums/