Amanita proxima

Description

Amanita proxima is a basidiomycete fungus belonging to the Amanitaceae family. It is recognized by a creamy white cap ranging from 5 to 15 cm in diameter, which appears first hemispherical and finally flattened.

Amanita proxima is a symbiont fungus that grows on calcareous and sandy substrates of the Mediterranean maquis where there are broad-leaved and coniferous trees. It is a generally thermophilic mushroom that bears fruit in the autumn period on sandy and calcareous soil.

Amanita ovoidea var. proxima (Dumée) is a synonym.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   The cap of Amanita proxima is 50 - 150 mm wide, fleshy, at first ovoid then convex, finally nearly flat, whitish to ivory, smooth, viscid, silky, and with a smooth margin. The cap's flesh is white and unchanging.

2. Gills

   The gills are free, distant, thick, creamy, and 8 - 12 mm wide; the short gills are truncate to rounded truncate to concave-truncate or subattenuate.

3. Stem

   The stem is 120 - 210 × 25 - 45 mm, white, solid, firm, and narrows upward; it is more clavate than bulbous. It also bears a membranous and persistent white ring. The universal veil is ochraceous to reddish-brown, and its free limb makes up about one-third of its height.

4. Flesh

   The flesh is white and immutable and with an indefinite smell.

5. Spores

   The spores measure (8.2-) 8.9 - 12.4 (-17.5) × (5.0-) 5.5 - 7.2 (-9.9) µm and are ellipsoid to elongate (occasionally cylindric) and amyloid. Irregularly shaped "giant spores" are sometimes observed. There are no clamp connections at the bases of basidia.

6. Similar Species

   The Amanita proxima is an easily confused mushroom with the Amanita ovoidea (farinaccio), with which it often grows in the same habitat in the Mediterranean-xerophilous environment. However, it is distinguished by the presence of ocher volva and the evident and lasting ring that falls into a skirt on the stem.

History

The term Amanita comes from the Greek ἀμᾱνῖται amanítai, a name given by the ancient Greeks to mushrooms from the mountain Ἄμᾱνoς Ámanos of Asian Turkey.

The specific epithet proxima comes from neighbor, very close: because it is very similar to other congener species.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Nikos D. Karabelas (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Nikos D. Karabelas (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Davide Puddu (Davide Puddu) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Nikos D. Karabelas (CC BY-SA 4.0)