Leathery-veiled Bolete

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Leathery-veiled Bolete is a large, conspicuous, easily identified mushroom. It occurs in the United States in the Upper Midwest in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and northern Illinois. It also occurs in Canada in southern Manitoba. It is relatively common in Minnesota. There are just a handful of isolated records outside this range in Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Saskatchewan. It was originally described in 1885 from a specimen in New York.

Leathery-veiled Bolete is found in summer and fall in deciduous forests and on lawns. It grows on the ground under hardwood trees, mostly white oak, but in Colorado it has been found under Gambel oak. It fruits mostly in areas where the forest has been cleared and only the shade trees remain. It has a mutually beneficial relationship (mycorrhizal) with the tiny rootlets of trees, absorbing sugars and amino acids while helping the tree absorb water.

When it first appears, the stalk and cap are completely enveloped in a thick, tough, leathery, firmly attached, protective covering (partial veil). This is the feature that gives the mushroom its common name. The veil soon ruptures, becomes gelatinous, and disintegrates, but it leaves a ring of tissue that sheathes the base of the stalk, and sometimes it leaves tissue remnants on the margin of the cap.

The cap is yellowish and convex when young. As it ages it broadens and darkens. Mature caps are brown, 1½″ to 8″ (4 to 20 cm) in diameter, and broadly convex or flat. The surface is smooth and is sticky in dry conditions but slimy when moist. It bruises dark brown.

The stalk is white to yellowish, 1½″ to 4″ (4 to 10 cm) long, and ⅜″ to 1¼″ (1 to 3 cm) thick, more or less the same thickness from top to bottom. It is smooth near the top. It bruises brown.

The pore surface is yellow when young, becoming brown as the spores mature. It is attached to the stem and sometimes runs down the stem. When bruised it quickly turns dark brown. There is about 1 pore per 1⁄32″ (1 mm). The pore tubes are angular and about ⅜″ (1 cm) deep.

The flesh is white to yellowish. It turns brown when sliced. Edibility is unknown.

The spore print is dark olive yellow to yellowish-brown.

Similar Species

Habitat and Hosts

Deciduous forests, lawns

Ecology

Season

Summer and fall

Distribution

Sources

7, 24, 30, 77.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 10/14/2026).

Paragyrodon sphaerosporus (Peck) Singer in Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Abreu, C., Acero P, A., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (2026-08-26 XR). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgyy9

Mycology Collections Portal (MyCoPortal) https://www.mycoportal.org/portal/collections/index.php). Accessed 10/14/2026.