Boletus ornatipes
Here’s an easy-to-remember identification tip: The fresh pore surface and the netted stem of the Ornate Stalked Bolete (Boletus ornatipes) both appear to have been dusted heavily with powdered yellow mustard. It’s a beautiful find in summer woodlands throughout Illinois. The top of the cap will be fairly smooth and resemble the top of a hamburger bun.
Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those species you’ll want to cook up and serve on top of a hamburger.
A few people have been able to stomach this brilliant bolete, but others find the mushroom bitterly disagreeable.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it for what it is. Nature is filled with an endless variety of profoundly interesting life forms that cannot be eaten. Still, they’re all perfectly good.
Among the hundreds of different species of mushrooms that have pores under their cap, this is the only one whose deeply netted stem and cap undersurface has that yellow mustard look in fresh specimens.