Key Features:

•  Cap dark brown when young.

•  Surface of cap with a fine whitish bloom when very young, otherwise bald.

•  Underside of cap with a sponge layer; pore (sponge) surface white when young, becoming yellowish and finally greenish as it matures, not staining blue or brown when bruised.

•  Stalk at least 1" thick at top, white to brown (not yellow).

•  Stalk surface finely netted, at least at top.

•  Flesh white, not staining blue or brown when cut.

•  Taste mild or nutty, not bitter.

•  Associated mainly with hardwoods.

 Other Features: Medium-sized to large; cap often reddish- brown and/or with pale areas when mature, sticky or dry; individual pores barely visible when white; stalk often with a bulb when young, but straighter in age; veil absent; spores dark olive-brown.

 Where: On ground under hardwoods (tanoak, madrone, chinquapin, manzanita, oak) or sometimes conifers. Common in California and Oregon; northern limit uncertain.

 Edibility: Excellent. Some prefer it to the king bolete; others say it is bland unless dried.

 Note: This species differs from the king bolete mainly in the cap color of young individuals. When older the two can be similar, although the pore surface is usually greenish in the queen bolete rather than brown as in the king.