1. Stipe eccentric to lateral, tubes strongly decurrent, pores distinctly boletinoid (more or less radially arranged; pileus dry….....................………………………….......….Boletinellus (B. merulioides)

1. Stipe more or less central…………………………………………………………………………2

2. Veil floccose, dry and bright sulfur-yellow………………………...…Pulveroboletus (P. ravenelii)

2. Veil absent or not as above……………………………...................……...……………………3

3. Pileus covered with coarse, dry, gray to blackish scales; tube layer pallid when young, becoming blackish; staining reddish when injured; veil breaking to leave an annulus or zone on the stipe…… ………………….........………………………….............……......................…..Strobilomyces (4)

3. Not with the above combination of features…………………............…....……………….……5

4. Pileus scales or squamules broad and flattened; spores reticulate…………Strobilomyces floccopus

4. Pileus with upright, cylindric to cone-shaped pointed scales; spores roughened or with a broken reticulum…………..………………......................................……………..Strobilomyces confusus

5. Stipe roughened by small to distinct scales, points or fine dots which are either black when young or become dark brown to black in age; pileus typically dry, velvety and orange-reddish to gray-brown to ………............................…………………………………………………..…......…….Leccinum

5. Not as above…………………...……………………..........…………………..…………..……6

6. Basidiocarps with any two of the following features:

a. Stipe annulate

b. Stipe with glandular dots or smears (fingers often become stained by handling the stipe)

c. Pileus viscid to slimy when fresh

d. Pores obscurely to distinctly boletinoid when mature

e. Hymenial cystidia in clusters or fascicles which appear reddish to reddish-brown in KOH* ……………………........................................………………….………………… ……Suillus (7)

*To test for this character: Using a razor blade, cut a very thin slice of the tubes at right angles to their long axis and include the pore surfaces. Place on a glass slide, add 3% KOH, and examine with a hand lens. The cystidia, if present, should appear as small, red to reddish-brown spots. If not evident, add a coverslip, gently crush to flatten and repeat the observations.

6. Basidiocarp without any two of the above features……………...…………………....…………12

7.Partial veil lacking…………...................……................................................................……....8

7. Partial veil or false veil present, leaving a distinct annulus on the stipe or present as a continuous to interrupted cottony mass at the pileus margin (check young specimens)………..............………..…9

8. Stipe with conspicuous glandular dots; pileus white when young, slowly becoming yellow to buff; under 5-needle (white) pine………………………………..........................………..Suillus placidus

8. Stipe lacking glandular dots; pileus brown when young, becoming paler to yellow-brown in age; under 2-needle (scotch and shortleaf) and 3-needle (loblolly) pines…………………Suillus brevipes

9. Veil leaving an annulus or an annular zone on the stipe……………...……………….......……..10

9. Veil adhering to the pileus margin as an interrupted to continuous cottony mass………..…...….11

10. Annulus thick and baggy, flaring away from the stipe at both the apex and base; stipe thin (up to 1.5 cm thick)………….………………………..............................…………..…Suillus cothurnatus

10. Annulus flaring only at the apex, with a vinaceous to purplish layer on the undersurface in humid or wet weather; stipe 1-2.5 cm thick……........………………………......................….Suillus luteus

11. Stipe thin (9 mm or less in diameter), with conspicuous glandular dots on the surface; pileus and stipe bright yellow (when fresh); pileus often with reddish fibrils…………..…..Suillus americanus

11. Stipe thick (10 mm or more in diameter), lacking glandular dots on the surface; pileus pallid to cinnamon to dull brown, pileus and stipe not bright yellow……....………………...Suillus albidipes

12. Pores white at first; stipe fragile and often hollow; spores pale yellow in mass.…Gyroporus (13)

12. Stipe solid, the lower part becoming tough in age; spores differently colored: vinaceous cinnamon, vinaceous brown, olive, olive-brown, or olive-black ..…………………………............14

13. Flesh quickly becoming blue on bruising or exposure………….………....Gyroporus cyanescens

13. Flesh not becoming blue on bruising or exposure…………………………..Gyroporus castaneus

14. Pores white to pallid when young, becoming pinkish to pinkish-brown in age; spores pinkish to pinkish-brown in mass .......…………………………….............................................Tylopilus (15)

14. Pores and spores not as above……………………..………………….........…….....………...19

15. Pileus dark gray; pores pale, staining black where bruised; stipe pale to dark gray…..T. alboater

15. Pileus, pores, and stipe not as above…….........................……………………......………...…16

16. Taste mild; stipe reticulate (at least at the apex)….....………………....…….. Tylopilus indecisus

16. Taste bitter…................……………………………………………........................………....17

17. Stipe not reticulate………………………………………………………Tylopilus rubrobrunneus

17. Stipe reticulate……………….…………………………………...........................…….….....18

18. Pileus pale tan to tan to cinnamon………………….………........................... Tylopilus felleus

18. Pileus and stipe violaceous when young, becoming brown to cinnamon-brown only in age ……………….……………........…….............................…………..... Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus

19. Spores reddish-brown to chocolate-brown; basidiocarp staining waxed paper blue…………….. ..………………………….............................................………………Porphyrellus cyanotinctus

19. Spores and basidiocarps not as above……………………………………....................…...…20

20. Spores olive-fuscous (olive-black), ornamented with longitudinal ridges; pores wide, deep yellow…………………….…….....................................…...….Boletellus pseudo-chrysenteroides

20. Spores olive to olive-brown; pores white, red or yellow when young…………..….Boletus (21)

21. Pore surface red to orange-red (color may be partially masked by the background color of the tubes in older specimens……...……………………..............................…….......………………..22

21. Pore surface not red……...……………………………….................................……………..26

22. Stipe smooth, not reticulate………………............................................… Boletus subvelutipes

22. Stipe reticulate, at least at the apex……….....................................….....…………….……...23

23. Pileus red……………..……………………………….......…………....………...………...…24

23. Pileus not red……………………………………………….............................…………...…25

24. Stipe covered with a coarse raised reticulum……….........…………….....………. Boletus frostii

24. Stipe reticulations not raised and coarse….….…… Boletus flammans (Boletus rubroflammeus?)

25. Stipe 2-3 cm broad, yellow above and red below; pileus yellow to clay color….. Boletus luridus

25. Stipe up to 1.2 mm broad, bright golden-orange and often red reticulate; pileus golden yellow to olivaceous…………….....………………............................…………...…... Boletus auriflammeus

26. Stipe reticulate, at least at the apex….....….......................…………….…………....…….....27

26. Stipe smooth to pruinose……..……….............………….………..............………………...30

27. Pileus viscid, bright yellow……….................………....................……………. Boletus curtisii

27. Pileus not as above…………………………............................…………………………….28

28. Pileus and stipe pallid; stipe fine-reticulate at the apex only…..……………..... Boletus pallidus

28. Pileus and stipe not pallid; reticulum coarse or broadly spaced or both….......….…………....29

29. Taste mild; stipe reticulum coarse with large spaces between the ridges…….………B. illudens

29. Taste bitter; stipe reticulum coarse but with small inter-ridge spacing, surface yellow to olive and staining the fingers on handling……..……………………….................………. Boletus ornatipes

30. Basidiocarp staining blue when bruised……….……………….………………....…………..31

30. Basidiocarp not staining blue…................................………………………………………..35

31. Stipe thick (1-3 cm broad)…...................................................………………. Boletus bicolor

31. Stipe thin (10-13 mm broad)……..……………………….........…….....…………………...32

32. Tubes and flesh quickly and completely blue when cut……........…………………….......…33

32. Tubes and flesh unchanging or changing only slowly to blue…….........………………….....34

33. Mycelium at the base of the stipe white........………........……………………. Boletus fraternus

33. Mycelium at the base of the stipe yellow.....................……………………… Boletus campestris

34. Mycelium at the base of stipe white……….………………….................……… Boletus rubeus

34. Mycelium at the base of stipe yellow…...................……………..…………….. Boletus rubellus

35. Parasitic on and growing on Scleroderma (a puffball)....................……...… Boletus parasiticus

35. Not as above; growing on the ground….......………………………………........……………36

36. Pileus glabrous, rugose to rugulose, aerolate in age; stipe roughened by distinct small points or fine dots……………….……………….............................………………….. Boletus subglabripes

36. Basidiocarp not as above………………........………………..………..............……………..37

37. Pore surface bright yellow (and remaining so on drying); stipe often viscid at the base………. ……………………………………….......................................….……………. Boletus auriporus

37. Pore surface not bright yellow…….........................................……………………..………..38

38. Pileus and stipe pallid; pores pale yellow…….....................…………………... Boletus pallidus

38. Pileus or stipe or both more highly pigmented, not pallid…….......................………………..39

39. Pileus dark red to dark purplish red…….....................................…….…….. Boletus purpureus

39. Pileus of pale to dark brown shades…………..………..........................……….. Boletus affinis