The odour of this fungus is slight; the taste subacid; the seminal dust copious, and tawny-ferruginous. It may be cooked like the _B. edulis_, and has an agreeable flavour; but being more viscid in substance, it requires when stewed to be thinned with water; when dried, it loses all odour, and is then insipid and unfit for food.
Nothing can be more accurate than Mr. Berkeley’s description of this species, which I therefore subjoin:—“Woods. Summer and autumn. Common. _Pileus_ two to six inches broad, convex, expanded, minutely tomentose, olive, brick-red, pinkish, cream-coloured, or ferruginous-brown. _Flesh_ more or less yellow, changing to blue.[163] _Tubes_ free, yellow or greenish; their orifices of a beautiful red or bright orange, quite simple, round. _Spores_ olivaceous-ochre. _Stem_ very variable in length, bulbous, tomentose, sometimes quite smooth, red with ferruginous or the brightest yellow shades, solid, generally more or less marked or reticulated with crimson-red, _very deleterious_”(?[164]).
I never met with this fungus in Italy; it has not been described by Vittadini, nor, that I am aware of, by any Italian mycologist; neither is it mentioned by Cordier or Roques, in their treatises on the esculent funguses of France. Extremely common in England, this species has already found its way to Covent Garden, where, according to Sowerby, it is sold under the name of “Blewitts.”[165] The favourite haunt of the Blewitt is amidst grass, where it grows in clusters, or in large rings, seldom appearing before October.
The botanical characters, as given by Mr. Berkeley, are as follows:—“_Pileus_ from two to six inches broad, fleshy, firm; pale bistre or purple-lilac, occasionally violet; convex, obtuse, very smooth, and shining, as if oiled, but not viscid; margin involute, pulverulento-tomentose. _Gills_ rounded; free, narrow in front, paler than the pileus, sometimes violet, turning to a dirty flesh-colour, especially when bruised; _stem_ from one to three inches high, three-quarters of an inch thick, firm, bulbous, solid, mottled within towards the apex, with watery spots; clothed more or less with villous fibrillæ, tinged with violet; odour like that of _Oreades_, but rather overpowering; taste pleasant.” As the “Blewitt” is apt to imbibe in wet weather a great quantity of moisture, it should not be gathered during rain; when not water-soaked it is a fine firm fungus with a flavour of veal, like which it is to be dressed _en papillottes_ with savoury herbs and the usual condiments, and the more highly seasoned the better.