Amanita polypyramis

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Amanitaceae > Amanita . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Amanita polypyramis is a large Amanita from the notoriously difficult section Lepidella--but a combination of features makes it fairly distinct among similar species:

• Large size (mature caps 7-21 cm across);

• Soft warts or patches on the cap surface;

• A fragile, soon-disappearing ring;

• A fairly abrupt bulb at the stem base;

• Spores measuring 9-14 x 5-10 µ;

• Southeastern distribution.

Amanita polypyramis appears in the United States from Texas to New Jersey and Florida, and southward through Mexico to Central America. It is often labeled "Amanita chlorinosma," but that species is somewhat smaller and features a less abrupt basal bulb, as well as smaller spores. Both species feature a foul, rotting-meat odor that is often described as resembling "chloride of lime" (whatever that means).

Amanita polypyramis is probably poisonous. No amanita should be considered for the table.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers and hardwoods (especially oaks); solitary; summer and fall; distributed from New Jersey to Florida, Texas, and Costa Rica.

Cap: 7-21 cm; convex to broadly convex or nearly flat; moist or dry; covered with a powdery layer that soon becomes aggregated into soft warts or patches; whitish; the margin not lined, but often hung with veil material.

Gills: Free from the stem or nearly so; creamy or dirty buff; crowded.

Stem: 7-20 cm long; up to 3.5 cm thick; tapering slightly to the apex; colored like the cap and covered with powdery material, at least when young; with a large, skirtlike, fragile, whitish ring that often disappears; terminating in an abrupt, more or less round, basal bulb; with powdery, indistinct volval remnants.

Flesh: White; unchanging.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-14 x 5-10 µ; smooth; broadly elliptical; amyloid. Basidia 4-spored; lacking basal clamps.

REFERENCES: (Berkeley & M. A. Curtis, 1853) Saccardo, 1887. (Weber & Smith, 1985; Jenkins, 1986; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Miller & Miller, 2006; Tulloss, 2006.)

Further Online Information:

Amanita polypyramis at Tulloss's Studies in Amanita
Amanita polypyramis at Macrofungi of Costa Rica

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2008, March). Amanita polypyramis. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_polypyramis.html