Orange birch bolete or Brown birch bolete

The cap is large: 6-20 cm across, hemispherical with an inrolled margin in young mushrooms, becoming convex with age, then flat and spread out. The color is bright orange, brick-yellow, rusty orange, more intense in young mushrooms and paler in old ones. The cap skin is roughly suede-like or slightly fibrous, a little slippery in wet weather. The skin does not peel off; ragged scraps of a leathery "curtain" often hang from the margin.

Cap 5–15 cm across, at first spherical or hemispherical, later cushion-shaped. The surface is smooth or slightly wrinkled, dry or a little sticky in wet weather. Color ranges from grayish brown to dark brown, more rarely almost black.

Tubular hymenophore. The tubes are long (2-3 cm), grayish-white in young mushrooms, grayish-cream with age. They are not attached to the stem (they separate easily from the cap). The spore print is olive-brown. The pores are small and round.

The hymenophore is tubular. The tubes and pores are white, small in young mushrooms and wider in mature ones. When pressed, the pores turn slightly brownish, but there's never any bluing: unlike in the red-capped scaber stalks, the flesh doesn't blue even at the stem base.

The stem is sturdy: 8-20 cm tall, 1.5-3 cm thick, cylindrical, thickened at the base and narrowing toward the top. Its color ranges from whitish to dirty gray, densely covered with dark gray or blackish scale-like fibers — a hallmark of the genus Leccinum. No ring.

Stem 8–18 cm tall, 1.5–3 cm thick, cylindrical, fairly long and slender compared with the cap. The surface is white or grayish, densely covered with dark, fibrous scales — the hallmark of the genus Leccinum. The stem is firm and fibrous.

The flesh is thick, white, very firm and meaty in young mushrooms. When cut, it gradually darkens: it may first turn pinkish, then violet-gray, then black, and the stem base often turns bluish — a normal reaction of the species, not a sign of spoilage. It also darkens when cooked. The texture holds its shape well in the pan.

The flesh is firm and white; when cut it doesn't change colour or turns slightly pinkish, and after a few hours may become a little greyish or brownish. It darkens to grey-black only when cooked. The taste is mild and neutral. The cap skin doesn't peel.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy smell with a hint of fresh forest litter. The taste is mild, delicate, typically mushroomy. No sharp or unpleasant notes.

The smell is unobtrusive, pleasant and typically mushroomy. The aroma intensifies with cooking. When dried, the brown birch bolete takes on a rich scent that falls short of porcini but is noticeably better than most other pored mushrooms.