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Amanitaceae [1] There are many species of Amanitas in North America and elsewhere, so we shall describe the characteristics common to all the species. Amanitas all start as round or ovai buttons surrounded by a protective tissue layer known as a universal veil. The young mushroom, or button, develops gills, cap, and stalk but these are small and incomplete. At this stage they have sometimes been mistaken for puffballs and eaten with disastrous results. If what seems like a young puffball is cut in half lengthwise and reveals a typical mushroom button, it should be evident at once that it is an Amanita. When the stalk of the Amanita button starts to elongate, a very soft universal veil fragments and is carried up on the expanding cap as a series of warts (Fig. 9) or patches of tissue. If it is a tough membrane or universal veil, it is split by the expanding cap and stalk and nothing of the universal veil is left on the cap. Instead, a well-formed volva, or cup (photo), surrounds the base of the stalk. In the closely related genus Limacella, the universal veil is a thick, slimy gelatinous tissue, but the development is the same as in the Amanitas. Volvariella is the third genus in which one encounters an obvious volva in the gilled fungi. However, ali Volvariellas have pink spores while Amanita and Limacella (in the Amanitaceae) ali have white spores. A third important character possessed by Amanita and Limacella are free gills, so called because they do not touch the stalk. |
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Therefore, a fungus in the Amanitaceae must have white spores, free gills, and a universal veil which leaves a volva (cup) surrounding the stalk. If the volva is cottony or membranous it is an Amanita. A gelatinous universal veil and volva signifies a Limacella. If the volva fragrnents easily we must be careful to dig down under the stalk and lift the entire fungus out of the ground. The fragmented cup can often be seen in the surrounding soil. Two additional characters can be verified with a microscope. All the spores of the Amanitaceae are entire, smooth, and thin-walled (Fig. 2). |
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Figs. 3-4 show spores which are thick-walled, ornamented, or are not entire and possess a pore at the apex. Lastly, if one cuts down through the gills of, preferably, a young fruiting body, the tissue in the center of the gill is divergent, that is, it grows outward from a centrai strand. This character must also be viewed microscopically. Edibility. There are, indeed, edible species of Amanita in North America, and several of the same species have been eaten in Europe for centuries. But we have many more species in North America, many that are inadequately known, and, in addition, we have several poisonous species that closely resemble the edible ones. I would therefore not recommend collecting or eating any Amanitas. The poisons possessed by Amanitas are described under Mushroom Toxins and include toxins in Groups I, Il, and III. There is little doubt that these large, attractive, showy mushrooms have caused the majority of fatalities attributable to mushrooms and more than all other mushrooms combined. Interestingly enough, l have often encountered teeth marks made by rodents on a wide variety of mushrooms but l have yet to encounter a white Amanita that has been chewed on. The rodents have apparently learned their lessons well. They may shy away from the chlorine-like odor which is often very faint to strong. |
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Amanita caesarea Cap ovoid or hemispheric, then convex, finally expanded and sometimes somewhat depressed, 8-18 Cm; margin striated by light grooves in the direction of the gills; color orange or red orange; rarely yellow, tending to orange or faded yellow; cuticle usually without remains of the universa1 veil, smooth, shining, somewhat viscid in humid weather, easily separable from the cap. Stem cylindric, thick, slightly bulbous at the base; yellow, stuffed at first, then soon hollow. Ring large, pendulous, kiltlike; yellow; sometimes striate from the top down. Volva large, white, lobate, free from the base and enwrapping it. Flesh firm, white, yellow under the cuticle of the cap. Odor light and delicate. Flavor pleasant. Gills close, broad, free from the stem, yellow. Intermediate gills with posterior end truncate, almost at right angles: this characteristic is found in several species of Amanita. Spores white, tending to yellowish. It grows in wood clearings, preferring chestnut and oak woods of warm and warm temperate regions; in CentraI America and in Japan it is found, somewhat smaller, under pines in the mountains. Edible, excellent either cooked or raw, in salads; it can be preserved in oil or exsiccated. |
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[2] AMANITA CAESAREA (Fr.) Schw. Nonpoisonous/Numerous ["Caesar's Mushroom"] Cap yellow-orange, viscid, no warts; gills yellow; ring yellow; white saclike volva Cap 5-15 cm broad (recorded up to 30 cm), conical at first, convex, sometimes with a low knob, viscid, smooth with long striations toward the margin, margin bright yellow shading to orange or orange-red toward the center, no warts. Flesh firm, white, yellowish just under cap cuticle. Gills close, free, broad, yellow. Stalk 7-20 mm thick, nearly equal, hollow, dry, smooth, without hairs (glabrous} or thinly cottony (floccose), yellow. Volva membranous, persistent, white cup enclosing the base at maturity. Veil membranous, soft, yellow to orange, a persistent, superior (above the middle of the stalk) skirtlike ring is formed. Spores 7.5-14.5 x 5-8.51.1 ovai, thin-walled, non-amyloid reaction, white spore print. Scattered in groups, sometimes in fairy rings under hardwood forests. Sources:
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This page compliments of Marisa Ciceran Created: Friday, April 6,
2001; Last updated:
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
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