Mushroom of the Week: Birch Bolete, the black-turning mushroom still surprising scientists

Mushroom of the Week: Birch Bolete, the black-turning mushroom still surprising scientists

At first glance, the birch bolete (Leccinum scabrum), also known as the brown birch bolete, looks like an ordinary woodland mushroom. Found in association with birch trees across Europe and North America, it has a brown cap that often becomes smoother with age and a pale stem covered with tiny dark projections called scabers (den Bakker & Noordeloos, 2005; Burke Herbarium, n.d.; First Nature, n.d.). Its flesh is usually whitish and changes littl…