Amanita populiphila

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by Ron Meyers

If I were tasked with assigning a common name to this mushroom, I would probably select “Cottonwood Amanita.” Its Latin name means "poplar-loving," referring to the cottonwoods and aspens under which it is found.

This may be one of the more difficult Amanitas to identify even to genus, as it frequently has no universal veil remnants on the cap and the volva is so fragile and easily detached from the stem as to be easily overlooked, especially by an inexperienced collector.

Amanita populiphila is not a recommended edible. It has been eaten with no ill effects (see discussion below), but as it is white or pallid it could be easily confused with other white species of Amanita which are poisonous, like the deadly Destroying Angels. There are enough other edible mushrooms available; I am not tempted to try any species of Amanita.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with aspen and cottonwoods (narrowleaf cottonwood and eastern cottonwood) in the central United States, from the Mississippi River west into the Rocky Mountains; recorded also from Idaho and New Mexico. In Kansas fruitings numbering in the hundreds, covering several acres of a large mowed field in a flood plain, have been recorded as early as May and as late as October.

Cap: 30-120 mm wide; white to off-white to very pale tan or pale cream, often becoming more yellowish with the margin remaining nearly white. With age and handling it becomes more tan to brown. Tacky to sticky or slimy; universal veil remnants absent or in rather thick warts or small patches.

Gills: Free from the stem or attached to it; sometimes with long, pale orangish white lines running down the upper stem; close or crowded; off-white to pale orange or pinkish cream; unchanging when cut or bruised.

Stem: 63-175 mm long; 7-20 mm wide; white, sometimes with pale watery streaks; not discoloring by handling or in age; narrowing upward; no ring. Volva thin, white, taking on orange-red or brown spots on the lower portion as it ages; easily detached from the stem in mature specimens.

Flesh: Pure white, unchanging when bruised or cut. Flesh in stem white to off-white with watery streaks.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9.2-12.5 x 8.2-11.2 µ; hyaline; smooth; inamyloid; nearly round to occasionally round, or broadly elliptical.

REFERENCES: Tulloss & E. Moses, 1995. (Tulloss & Moses, 1995; Tulloss, 2003.) Herb. Kuo 08150711.

North of Manhattan, Kansas is the dam which created Tuttle Creek Reservoir, with a large park near the spillway. It was in this park in 1989 that Elizabeth Moses, a very experienced amateur mushroom collector, discovered massive fruitings of an Amanita species she could not identify. She contacted Rodham Tulloss, noted mycologist specializing in Amanitas, and together they took the steps necessary to describe and name a new species. The full name is Amanita populiphila Tulloss & E. Moses.

Elizabeth and her husband went one step further. They cooked and consumed the mushrooms. When asked why she took such a risk, she wrote a letter explaining that she was a "McIlvaineian" (Charles McIlvaine, author of One Thousand American Fungi, 1900, seemingly tried almost everything). The absence of a ring encouraged her to believe it was not a poisonous species.

Elizabeth encouraged members of her club, the Kaw Valley Mycological Society, to come to Manhattan when the mushroom was fruiting. My wife and I made the 90-mile trip and were amazed at the number of mushrooms. But with my well-ingrained prejudice against eating Amanitas, we did not try them.

Further Online Information:

Amanita populiphila at Tulloss's Studies in Amanita

Amanita populiphila under narrowleaf cottonwood in Colorado

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Cite this page as:

Meyers, R. (2003, March). Amanita populiphila. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_populiphila.html