Paragyrodon sphaerosporus is a long name for a slightly complicated mushroom. On one hand, they're a bolete that's relatively easy to find and identify. Their edibility is the complicated part.
I've enjoyed eating this mushroom on occasion since it's bug free and cooks up reasonably well, better than a lot of slippery jacks that it resembles in flavor and aroma.
However, some people recommend not eating it as it's related to other mushrooms in the family Paxillaceae, and, as there's no shortage of wild mushrooms to eat where I forage in Minnesota, I thinks its probably best to skip these until we know more about them and any compounds they contain.
If you haven't seen them before, and you're in the Upper Midwest, it's just probably a matter of time. Around the Twin Cities Metro Area I can't seem to not see these right before the summer mushroom season really starts to get going. When the mushrooms are very small and just emerging, their veil gives it a strange look, and encases the entire mushroom from stem to cap. The veil here really stands out, it's thick like leather, and quickly turns to goo--not hard to key out in the field guides.
Elizabeth Blair
Believe I found my first Leathery Veiled boletes. A huge clump of them. Odd mushroom. The leathery covering was gone but the caps were slimy and there were brown stains from the veil on the short white stem, which I could not see until I picked one. Why haven't I seen these before? They are said to be very common in MN. I first thought when I spotted one today was - What? a bright yellow puffball, because the cap was so bulbous.
Peter Swenson
Revisiting edibility: I have eaten these for the past five years, probably an ounce of dried added to a sauce, a couple of time per year depending on how many I find. I always dehydrate and cook thoroughly after reconstituting. I have never experienced any noticeable ill effects. Since the original post is nearly 10 years old. is there any more or newer information regarding their safety?
Alan Bergo
Not to my knowledge. Eating small amounts, well cooked on occasion should be fine. I just have to be extra careful.
Dana
We get about 10-15 lbs of these in our yard every year and eat ALL of them. Love their beefy heartiness.
After peeling, I lightly scrub the tops with a veggie brush then cook well.
Speaking only for my extended family (at least a dozen of us), we've never experienced any ill effects.
Velita
What area ate you from? Im in canada , manitoba and found these under oak trees
Sam Schaperow
To put into better perspective:
The very edible carrot (Daucus carota) has been found to be related to the very *DEADLY* spotted water hemlock, aka spotted water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) at the family level. But, genera such as the Cicuta genus has a deadly toxic lineage, *not* the Daucus genus (definitely D. carota, but any other Daucus sp. have deadly toxins, please correct me). And so, while disclaimers are valuable in many cases, science does not support any special prudence with disclaiming this mushroom in particular.
Sam Schaperow, M.S.
sites.google.com/site/foragingct
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MushroomTalk/
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PlantForagers
Sam Schaperow
You suggest caution in eating Paragyrodon sphaerosporus due to its discovered relation to Paxillus involutus. I don't consider this an impossibility, and I do consider it thought-provoking, however isn't that exceedingly unlikely?
I've not looked at cladistics..., but w/in Linnaean taxonomy, the relation is merely at the family level. Ev en w/Amanitas, the section level is most telling about toxic relations, rather than genus or family.
I'd think that the greater danger with this mushroom is the walk/drive to get it.
Sam Schaperow, M.S.
sites.google.com/site/foragingct
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MushroomTalk/
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PlantForagers
Alan Bergo
Interesting Tammy, ran into something like this when I was discussing scabers. Shoot me a link that I can post. How many times will they reclassify these guys? They are fun to eat and experiment with, but if they are close cousins of the pax, like you say, It will be wise to advise people not to eat them. Looking forward to reading the article,
Alan.
Tammy Kimbler
Looks like it was properly sequenced in 2007 and entered into the National Center for Biotechnology Information database. You can see the whole taxonomy here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=5372&lvl=3&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock&mod=1#modif
If you compare that to Boletus edulus, it's vastly different:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=1328754&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock
Super fungi geek out! Great site to see all the other lineages, too.