Amanita parcivolvata

🏷️ Description

Amanita parcivolvata, also known as the ringless false fly amanita, is a fascinating mushroom from the genus Amanita. It belongs to the subgenus Amanita and section Amanita. Initially described by Charles Horton Peck in 1900 as Amanitopsis parcivolvata, it was later placed in the now-defunct genus Vaginata by Murrill in 1910. Eventually, J.E. Gilbert reassigned it to Amanita in 1941, where it remains today.

🍽️ Edibility: Good news for foragers: Amanita parcivolvata is edible! However, caution is always advised when consuming wild mushrooms, especially those in the Amanita genus, as some species can be highly toxic.

🔎 Identification

🍄 Cap

• Size: 1–4.5 in (3–12 cm) in diameter

• Color: Bright red to orange-red, sometimes fading inward

• Texture: Sticky when fresh

• Surface: Scattered pale yellow to white warts (which may wash off in rain)

• Margin: Strongly lined (striated) with age

🌿 Gills

• Color: White to pale yellow

• Spacing: Closely packed

• Attachment: Free from the stipe (stem), sometimes with a serrated edge

📏 Stem

• Size: 1–4.5 in (3–12 cm) tall, about 0.5 in (1.5 cm) thick

• Color: Pale yellow to white

• Texture: Powdery with volval remnants along the stipe

• Base: Lacks a bulb, tapers to a point, with powdery volval deposits

• Key Feature: No ring (annulus), distinguishing it from Amanita muscaria

👃 Flesh & Odor

• Color: Pale yellow

• Changes when cut? No

• Smell: Not distinctive

🔬 Microscopic Features

• Spores: 8–10 x 6–8 µm, smooth, ellipsoid, inamyloid

• Basidia: 4-spored, rarely with basal clamps

• Spore Print: White

🧪 Chemical Reactions

• KOH on cap: Changes red to orange, then yellow

🌍 Habitat & Distribution

Amanita parcivolvata is an eastern and southeastern U.S. species, particularly common in oak forests but also found in mixed woodlands with conifers. It thrives in grassy, disturbed areas such as:

🍃 Picnic areas

🌾 Lawns

🏞️ Ditches

🚧 Roadbanks

It forms mycorrhizal associations with oaks and sometimes appears under pines. It can be found growing alone or gregariously, from spring through fall, in states ranging from New Jersey to Florida and Texas, and even in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

👀 Lookalikes

❌ Similar to Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric)

Although Amanita parcivolvata looks like the infamous Amanita muscaria, it lacks:

❌ A ring (annulus)

❌ A thick, bulbous base

❌ Prominent concentric zones of shagginess on the stem

❌ No muscimol or ibotenic acid.

Additionally, in areas where Amanita parcivolvata grows, Amanita muscaria var. guessowii (a yellow variety) is more common.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: David Bittner (Public Domain)

Photo 2 - Author: Nick Abbate (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 3 and 4 - Author: Stephen (CC BY 4.0)