Help identifying leccinum to species

[Nathan Wilson]

>In Dr. Harry Thiers monograph of the boletes of California (California
>Mushrooms, A Field Guide to the Boletes, Hafner Press, 1975,
>out-of-print), one white Leccinum is listed, _Leccinum californicum_.
>But it is listed as being known only from the type locality in El
>Dorado Co. and having a context that is "unchanging when exposed". The
>spores of L. californicum are listed as 14.5-17.5 X 5.5-6.5 microns.

I recently heard from Dr. Alan Bessette that older work on Leccinum
(pre-1990?  as I remember he specifically mentioned work done by A.H.
Smith) did not use a reliable technique for judging staining reactions.
This has resulted in a confusing set of invalid species which are only
distinguished by the fact that they are "unchanging when exposed".  I think
the previous standard was to cut the specimen and not to explicitly bruise
them after cutting.  If this was the case for L. californicum you could
have a reasonable identification.  Unfortunately Alan is not on the net,
but I will try to get more details from him.

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         Nathan Wilson         <_________>
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