Strobilomyces confusus Singer. Confusing Bolete. Cap 3-10cm across; fuscous black to black; covered with acute, rigid, and erect spines or warts, which are denser toward the disk. Tubes white bruising coral to red. Pores large, angular; similarly colored. Stem 40-80 x 10-20mm, solid, tapering downward; fuscous black to grayish; shaggy. Flesh white then bruising red to brownish black. Odor not distinctive. Taste not distinctive. Spores subglobose, spiny to warty with very incomplete network connecting spines, 10.5-12.5 x 9.5-10µ. Deposit violaceous black. Habitat in mixed coniferous and hardwood forests. Apparently widespread although exact distribution is not known; however, it appears to be somewhat more southern than Strobilomyces floccopus (above). Recorded from Massachusetts to Florida, west to Ohio and Tennessee. Season July-October. Edible-quite good. Comment This species can be distinguished from Strobilomyces floccopus in the field by the acute, erect warts or spines, which feel very firm if tapped gently with the fingers; in floccopus the warts or scales feel soft and woolly.