Leccinum scabrum

Brown Birch Bolete

Scientific identification: Leccinum scabrum (Bull.) Gray
Family: Boletaceae
Class: Agaricomycetes
Genus: Leccinum

Names across languages

English: Brown Birch Bolete
German: Birkenröhrling
Finnish: Lehmäntatti
Estonian: Kasepuravik
Russian: Подберёзовик обыкновенный

The scientific profile

From the latest record: 2026-08-30.

Hymenium

Pores small, round to irregular; whitish to cream when young, becoming greyish to brownish with age; bruising slowly brownish

Cap

Hemispherical to convex when young, later broadly convex; dry to slightly moist, finely velvety when young and smoother with age; various shades of brown, or grey or reddish tones

Hymenium Attachment

Adnexed to slightly depressed around the stipe

Stipe

Robust, cylindrical to slightly clavate, whitish to buff; densely covered with blackish scabers, coarser toward the base; ring absent

Spore print

Spore print olivaceous-brown

Ecology

Mycorrhizal with birch; alone, scattered or gregariously; forests, woodland edges, parks and grassy places; summer to autumn

Edibility

Edible after thorough cooking; young firm specimens preferred

Fruit body

Fruit body medium to large; stipe ~7–20 cm long and ~1–3 cm thick

Dimensions

Cap ∅ ~5–15 cm

Flesh

White, usually unchanging or slowly becoming faintly pinkish to greyish when cut; no rapid blue staining

Chemical reactions

KOH reddish-brown on cap and flesh; FeSO₄ bluish-slate on flesh; NH₄OH negative

Odour

Pleasant, mushroomy

Taste

Mild, pleasant

Microscopy

Spores narrowly ellipsoid to subfusiform, smooth, ~14–20 × 4.5–6 µm; basidia 4-spored; caulocystidia clavate to fusoid-ventricose; no clamp connections