Amanita pseudoporphyria

🏷️ Description

Amanita pseudoporphyria, or Hongo’s False Death Cap, is a mycorrhizal mushroom found in southern China, Japan, North India, Thailand, and Nepal 🌏. It thrives in coniferous forests, growing solitary or gregariously beneath trees 🌲. This species is often mistaken for Amanita manginiana, differing mainly in its broader ellipsoid spores and more inflated volva cells.

Despite being poisonous, it is sold in China markets alongside A. manginiana, sometimes even mislabeled as porcini! 🍽️⚠️ Consumption has been linked to delayed acute kidney injury 🩸, similar to poisoning from Amanita smithiana and Amanita proxima. Symptoms may require haemodialysis but are usually reversible with proper treatment.

🔎 Identification

🍄 Cap: 1.97 to 5.91 inches (5 to 15 cm), greyish to gray-brown, darker in the center, smooth margin, may have white volval remnants.

🌿 Gills: White, free to subfree, with attenuate short gills.

📏 Stem: 80-130 x 5-40 mm, white, fibrillose to farinose, with a ring & limbate volva.

🥚 Volva: White to dirty white, sometimes greyish, free limb up to 50 mm.

⚪ Spore Print: White.

🔬 Microscopy: Ellipsoid to broad ellipsoid spores (7.0-9.0 x 5.0-6.5 μm), amyloid, no clamp connections.

⚠️ Toxicity: Poisonous—linked to kidney damage when ingested.

👀 Look-Alikes

1️⃣ Amanita manginiana – Very similar in appearance, but A. pseudoporphyria has broader ellipsoid spores and more inflated volva cells. Both species are sold in markets despite their toxicity.

2️⃣ Amanita smithiana – Found in North America, this toxic species also causes delayed acute kidney injury and has a similar greyish cap and limbate volva.

3️⃣ Amanita proxima – A Mediterranean species known to cause kidney damage, with a whitish volva and a similar growth habit in coniferous forests.

4️⃣ Amanita vaginata – Has a similar grey-brown cap and limbate volva, but lacks a ring and is generally edible.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Garry Lydon (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Atsushi Nakajima (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Atsushi Nakajima (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Atsushi Nakajima (CC BY 4.0)