Amanita velosa

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by Michael Kuo

This beautiful Amanita is a frequent feature of the springtime woods in hardwood forests on the West Coast. It grows primarily under coast live oak, and is fairly easily distinguished from look-alikes by the absence of a ring on the upper stem. It usually sports a prominent white patch on its cap, and its volva is sack-like, surrounding the stem base.

The dull orange color of the cap and the distinctive "skull cap" on young buttons can lead to confusion with a springtime version of Amanita lanei, but the latter species has a partial veil when young and, consequently, a ring on the mature stem. In Amanita velosa the surface of the upper stem can peel back, creating the appearance of a ring (enlarge the third photo for an example), but there is no true "annulus."

No species of Amanita should be considered for the table.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with coast live oak, and with quaking aspen and conifers in the Sierra Nevadas; according to Arora (1986), often fruiting in open areas, "up to 40 feet away from its mycorrhizal host"; spring; California, Oregon, and Baja California.

Cap: 3-12 cm; oval, becoming convex or nearly flat; sticky at first or when wet; smooth; pinkish tan to pale orange or beige (sometimes paler; heavy rains can wash out the pigmentation); typically with one or a few white patches; the margin prominently lined or grooved.

Gills: Free from the stem or attached to it; white, sometimes flushed pinkish in age; close.

Stem: 5-12 cm long; .5-2 cm thick; more or less equal; smooth, or powdery near the top and/or somewhat shaggy below; without a ring; the base enclosed in a sack-like, white volva that sometimes crumbles.

Flesh: White throughout; thick.

Spore Print: White, or tinged slightly pinkish.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-12 x 7.5-10 µ; smooth; nearly round or elliptical; inamyloid.

REFERENCES: (Peck) Lloyd, 1898. (Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Thiers, 1982; Arora, 1986; Jenkins, 1986; Lincoff, 1992; Lindgren, 1998; Tulloss, 1999; Wood & Stevens, 2003; Miller & Miller, 2006.) I have not collected this mushroom.

Further Online Information:

Amanita velosa at MykoWeb
Amanita velosa at Tulloss's Studies in Amanita

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2006, March). Amanita velosa. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_velosa.html