Amanita fulva
Description
Amanita fulva is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Amanita. This medium-sized agaric has a distinctive tawny cap and white gills, no ring, and usually without cap patches but with volval bag. It grows solitary or scattered on soil in mixed woodlands, favoring birch in deciduous and coniferous forests of Europe, and North America.
It is one of the few edible species in the genus Amanita. Though this particular species is considered edible, it must be identified with care as other members of the genus Amanita are deadly poisonous. Some sources indicate Amanita fulva as potentially toxic only when raw. Ultimate Mushroom does not recommend collecting and eating this fungus.
Mushroom Identification
Cap
4-10 cm; oval to convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; sticky at first or when wet; tawny brown to brown; sometimes with a few scattered white to tawny patches; bald; the margin prominently lined or grooved.
Gills
Free from the stem or slightly attached to it; whitish; close or nearly crowded; short-gills infrequent.
Stem
7-16 cm long; 0.5-1.5 cm thick; slightly tapered to apex; bald or slightly hairy; whitish to pale brownish; without a ring; the base enclosed in a sacklike, white volva that fits loosely around the stem and often discolors tawny brown.
Flesh
White throughout; soft; unchanging when sliced.
Spores
The spores are white, 9 × 12 μm or (9.0-) 10.0 - 12.5 (-19.3) x (8.2-) 9.3 - 12.0 (-15.5) μm in size, globose; nonamyloid.
Spore Print
White.
Habitat
Mycorrhizal with hardwoods or conifers; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.
Season
July to October.
Look-Alikes
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The cap is orange with a striated margin. The stem is orange-yellow.
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The cap is yellowish-orange and has an apricot tinge at the center. Gills are creamy-white. The stem is often hollow in mature mushrooms. The odor is sweet and tastes resemble nutty.
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Very similar but the cap is grayish.
History
In 1774 Jacob Christian Schaeffer described this species and named it Agaricus fulvus.
In 1815 Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries transferred to another genius and named it Amanita fulva.
The specific epithnet fulva means reddish brown.
Synonyms
Amanitopsis fulva (Fr.) W.G. Sm.
Amanita vaginata var. fulva (Fr.) Gillet, 1874
Amanitopsis vaginata var. fulva (Fr.) Sacc., 1887
Vaginata fulva (Fr.) A.H. Sm., 1949
Amanita ochraceomaculata Neville, 2000
Agaricus fulvus Schäff.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: GLJIVARSKO DRUSTVO NIS from Serbia (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Anton Ehrola (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Ralf Roletschek (talk) - Fahrradtechnik auf fahrradmonteur.de (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Björn S... (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo 5 - Author: Björn S... (CC BY-SA 2.0)