BASIDIOMYCETES: Agaricales, Boletaceae

Slippery Jack, Suillus luteus or Boletus luteus

Basidiomycetes, order: Agaricales, family: Boletaceae

Height to 4"

Cap is up to 4½" wide, convex, becoming flattened, various shades of red-orange, brown, or yellow, with a surface that is slimy when wet and shiny even when dry. The stalk is thick, yellowish above and smudged purple below, with a membranous collar that is part whitish and part purplish. The spongy fertile surface under the cap is whitish to yellow, becoming darker with age. Spore print is cinnamon-brown. There is no color change to the flesh when bruised. Slippery Jacks grow in mixed coniferous woodlands mostly in eastern North America during the fall. They are edible if the slimy surface is first removed.