Amanita velatipes

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

by Michael Kuo

Amanita velatipes is a hefty eastern North American species featuring a dull yellow cap with a brownish center and many whitish warts, along with a distinctive stem base that is ringed with a collar and/or concentric rings of universal veil material. The species should be compared with Amanita russuloides, Amanita multisquamosa, and Amanita muscaria var. guessowii, all of which are also found in eastern North America and can appear similar. Several western North American species (especially Amanita gemmata and Amanita pantherina) look similar but appear over 2,000 miles away in widely different ecosystems and thus should not lead to confusion.

Thanks to the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium for facilitating my study of the collection cited and described below.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods and conifers; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall; northeastern North America, ranging west to Michigan and south to the southern Appalachians.

Cap: 5-18 cm; oval or egg-shaped at first, becoming convex, broadly convex, or nearly flat; sticky at first or when wet; bald underneath numerous whitish warts that are initially arranged more or less concentrically and which may disappear in wet weather; brownish when very young or over the center, but soon dull tan to creamy yellow.

Gills: Free from the stem or attached to it; white; crowded; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 8-20 cm long; 0.5-2 cm thick; more or less equal above; terminating in a basal bulb that usually features a folded-over rim of universal veil material on the upper edge, along with concentric bands of veil material; with a sturdy white ring; bald or finely silky above the ring, finely hairy to shaggy below; whitish.

Flesh: White throughout; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 8-13 x 6-8 µ; ellipsoid; smooth; inamyloid. Basidia 4-spored; rarely clamped. Pileipellis an ixocutis of hyphae 2-8 µ wide. Lamellar trama bilateral; subhymenium ramose.

REFERENCES: Atkinson, 1900. (Jenkins, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Horn, Kay & Abel, 1993;Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006.) Herb NY 49002 (HEB 9118).

This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.

Spores

© MushroomExpert.Com

Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2013, May). Amanita velatipes. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_velatipes.html