This bolete has long been popular in the Southwest as a table item. The problem has always been beating the worms to the mushrooms. It occurs in the Ponderosa Pine forest, although there are sporadic records from spruce-fir areas. Generally, the best fruitings occur in the middle portions of the season when rains and humidity are highest. The result is that, although there are plenty of boletes, they are consumed by tiny grubs as fast as they come out. Seasons vary from year to year as to how successful fruitings will be and one or two years in ten will be truly plentiful. The open, dry Ponderosa Pine forest accumulates moisture much more slowly than Spruce-fir or mixed conifer forest. As a result the fruiting period is usually shorter, more prone to insect infestation and other damage (rodents, deer fungus attacks, &c.) One often finds this species with Russula brevipes, Hygrophorus erubescens and H. speciosus, Tricholoma aurantium, Boletus edulis, Amanita muscaria and A. rubescens, Gomphus bonari, and several Ramaria species. In our area there is no bolete that could be easily confused with it, although the cap color is not unlike that of Boletus pulcherrimus. This latter species seems to occur in the mixed conifer forest, principally under Douglas Fir or White Fir, and has red tubes rather than the yellowish to olive evident in B. Barrowsii.
    Chuck Barrows, the original collector of this species, always claimed this was the best eating of all the boletes and it certainly is excellent. He also said it had nothing to do with the fact that this particular mushroom was named after him, but that might have some bearing on its excellence.
    At any rate Boletus barrowsii is an evident and much sought after species. It may attain large size (up to 10 in-diam) and be extremely abundant. I have seen especially large fruitings in the Los Alamos area with hundreds of fruiting bodies scattered amongst the pines. It's a shame that collectors feel compelled to knock over and destroy the larger fruiting bodies since they provide food for wildlife and spores for future generations of boletes.
    The distribution of B. barrowsii is of considerable interest. Originally located in northern New Mexico, A.H. Smith also reported a collection from Idaho. Shortly after its publication, specimens were reported from northern Arizona, Utah, and subsequently from coastal California and Mexico as well. It is fascinating that a species that was unknown for so long should be so widely distributed. Recently one of my students told me he had collected B. barowsii in the Black Hills of South Dakota.