Dark red-brown bolete by the water
Boletaceae Family
Angles captured. Two frames where it stood in the litter, then four holding it over the water — the last four are the same fruitbody, not a second one.
Morphology
Cap 8–10 cm, deep chestnut to maroon-brown, dry and matt, margin even. Underside poroid, ochre-yellow, with a small insect visible on the pore surface in one frame. Stipe stout, brown, paler toward the apex.
Habitat & substrate
Leaf litter on a low bank at the water's edge, mixed hardwood above.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
A dark red-brown cap over yellow pores is a common combination across several bolete genera and cannot be resolved on colour alone. Nothing here rules out the red-pored group, which contains species that cause serious gastrointestinal poisoning.
To confirm this identification
Whether the pores or the flesh bruise blue. That single test separates most of the harmless brown boletes from the ones worth avoiding, and it takes seconds in the field.
Notes
Photographed first where it grew and then held up over the water, which changed the apparent colour and size enough that it initially read as two separate specimens.
Found at Massasoit Rd area, Worcester, MA on Wednesday, 12 August 2026 at 17:59. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Large orange-brown bolete, uprootedBoletaceae · Jul 31Low–moderate
Bolete with boletinoid poresSuillus or Phylloporus · Jul 31Moderate
Olive-brown boleteBoletaceae · Aug 6Low–moderate
Dark chestnut boleteBoletaceae · Aug 6Moderate
Wine-red boleteBoletaceae · Aug 6Moderate
Orange-capped boletesBoletaceae · Aug 6Low–moderate
Red-capped bolete with yellow poresBoletaceae · Aug 8Moderate
Yellow-brown boleteBoletaceae · Aug 8Low–moderate