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Key to a Few Common and Distinctive Amanitas 
by Michael Kuo
This key features a few groups and species of Amanita, but it is not intended to identify any amanita you find. There are hundreds of species world-wide, and mycologists are not even sure which ones occur in North America. My goal is only to introduce you to amanita identification and, if you are a beginner, to the use of keys in the mushroom identification process.
| 1. | Stem base featuring a fairly prominent sack that encloses the bottom of the stem (be sure to dig up specimens carefully with a pocket knife). | 2 |
| 1. | Stem base without a sack. | 6 |
| 3. | Cap white, usually without patches. | |
| 3. | Cap more highly colored; patches usually present. | 4 |
| 4. | Cap greenish to pale brownish; cap margin not lined. | |
| 4. | Cap red, orange, or yellow; cap margin lined. | |
| 5. | Found on the West Coast in spring; cap pale brownish to orangish brown, usually featuring a prominent patch. | |
| 5. | Distribution variable; cap colors variable; patches usually absent. | |
| 6. | Stem base swollen, featuring scales or concentric scaly zones on the upper edge of the bulb; cap surface with many warts. | 7 |
| 6. | Stem base not as above; warts present or absent. | 9 |
| 7. | Fresh cap bright red or yellow. | |
| 7. | Cap otherwise colored. | 8 |
| 8. | Cap brownish to yellowish brown. | |
| 9. | Stem base prominently swollen (like a bulb); with or without a collar-like "rim" on the upper edge of the bulb. | 10 |
| 9. | Stem base not bulb-like; rim absent. | 13 |
| 10. | Stem base so abruptly bulbous that the upper edge of the bulb is nearly flat and at least a centimeter wide; mushroom entirely white or whitish; found in eastern North America. | |
| 10. | Stem base not as above; mushroom variously colored; distribution variable. | 11 |
| 11. | Fresh cap pale greenish yellow (sometimes with faint lavender tinges); with or (usually) without a patch; never with warts; found in eastern North America. | |
| 11. | Fresh cap otherwise colored; patches or warts present or absent; distribution variable. | 12 |
| 12. | Flesh and stem surface discoloring and bruising slowly reddish brown; upper edge of bulb often with a "chiseled" or split appearance; cap brown to grayish brown or nearly whitish; found in eastern North America. | |
| 12. | Not completely as above. | |
| 13. | Flesh and stem surface bruising and discoloring pinkish to reddish, especially in older specimens. | 14 |
| 13. | Flesh and stem surface not bruising or discoloring reddish. | 16 |
| 14. | Found in western North America; cap nearly white when young; cap surface usually featuring a large patch, but without warts. | |
| 14. | Found in eastern North America; cap colors variable; cap surface with warts. | 15 |
| 15. | Warts yellow and remaining so through development; cap surface yellow beneath the warts; stem sometimes flushed yellow near the base; yellow tissue fragments sometimes found on stem base or on surrounding soil. | |
| 15. | Warts soon fading to buff or tan; cap surface dull brownish, reddish brown, yellowish brown, or nearly white beneath the warts; stem without yellow stains; tissue fragments usually absent on stem base and surrounding soil. | |
| 16. | Stem base featuring small yellow to orange flakes and tissue fragments that rub off easily and may have fallen onto the surrounding soil; cap surface yellow to orange; fragile warts usually present on young specimens; found primarily in eastern North America. | |
| 16. | Not completely as above. | 17 |
| 17. | Cap and stem white or whitish. | 18 |
| 17. | Cap and/or stem more highly colored. | Many possibilities . . . |
| 18. | Growing in grass (lawns, meadows, etc.) from Texas and Mexico to at least Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana; cap and stem densely shaggy with soft scales and patches that come off on your fingers. | |
| 18. | Not completely as above. | Many possibilities, including an entire "subgenus" (Lepidella) of species that confound even mycologists . . . |
Cite this page as:
Kuo, M. (2006, March). Key to a few common and distinctive amanitas. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_commondistinctive.html
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