Mushrooms, Amanita

Elite life
Mushrooms
Amanita
The Blusher is the common name for several closely related species of the genus Amanita, Amanita rubescens, found in Europe and eastern North America, and Amanita novinupta in western North America. Both their scientific and common names are derived from their propensity of its flesh to turn pink. Though edible, it can be confused with poisonous species and should probably be avoided by novice mushroomers.

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Blusher, Amanite Rougissante, Golmotte (Amanita rubescens)
Habitat in coniferous and deciduous woodland. Season summer to autumn. Edible when cooked but poisonous if eaten raw; the water it is cooked in should be discarded, best to avoid it altogether as it does contain dangerous toxins. Distribution: America and Europe.
Description: Cap 5-15 cm across, rosy brown to flesh colour, sometimes with a yellowish flush covered with white or slightly reddish patches. Stem 60-140 x 10-25 mm, white, strongly flushed with cap colour, white above the striate membranous ring, becoming reddish near the bulbous base which occasionally has scattered scaly patches of volva. Flesh white, gradually becoming pink when bruised or exposed to air, especially in the stem. Taste mild at first then faintly acrid, smell not distinctive. Gills free, white, becoming spotted with red where damaged. Spore print white. Spores ovate, amyloid, 8-9 x 5-5.5 μm.
Amanita novinupta
Habitat: Scattered to in small groups under oaks, especially Coast Liveoak (Quercus agrifolia); fruiting from late winter to early spring. Edible and good. It fruits late in the season. Amanita novinupta is distinguished by a pale pinkish-brown cap, the color often unevenly distributed, cap warts which may be scattered to aggregated into a central patch, a non striate cap margin, squamulose stipe and a scaly or collar-like volva.
Description: Pileus: Cap 5-14 cm broad, convex, expanding to nearly plane, the margin not striate or obscurely so at maturity; surface moist, smooth, pallid, becoming blotched to unevenly pinkish-buff, darkening slightly in age; universal veil remnants: white to pinkish-buff warts, scattered or aggregated in a central patch; flesh thick at the disc, thin elsewhere, white, firm, bruising pinkish-buff very slowly; odor indistinct; taste mild. Lamellae: Gills adnexed, moderately broad, close, milky-white, pallid in age. Stipe 6-12 cm tall, 1.5-3.5 cm thick, hollow to stuffed in age; equal to tapered to a slightly enlarged base, or with a small bulb; surface white, dry, finely striate at the apex, with pale pinkish-brown squamules below, the volva, one to several scaly rings or collars at the base; partial veil membranous, thin, white, the upper surface striate, the lower surface with flattened cottony scales, forming a fragile, pendulous, superior ring. Spores 7-8.5 x 5.5-6 μm, broadly elliptical, amyloid; spore print white.
Spring Amanita (Amanita velosa)
Amanita velosa is one of our more attractive and distinctive Amanitas. It is recognized by a pinkish-buff to orange-buff, cap, usually partially covered by a conspicuous white universal veil patch, a striate cap margin, and the absence of an annulus. Edible and excellent.
Description: Pileus: Cap 5-11 cm broad, ovoid, becoming convex, then nearly plane, margin conspicuously grooved or striate; surface viscid when moist, smooth, pinkish-buff to orange-buff, fading in age to buff-brown, typically partially covered with a cottony white patch; flesh thick, white, not staining. Lamellae: Gills close, white, sometimes with pinkish tones in age, attachment variable: free to slightly adnate or adnexed. Stipe 4-11 cm tall, 1.0-2.5 cm thick, equal or tapering to a enlarged base; surface white, smooth to pruinose above, sometimes scaly below, partial veil absent but a velar scar or zone may be present; universal veil forming a membranous, white cup-like volva at the base. Spores 8.5-12 x 7-11 μm, elliptical, smooth, nonamyloid; spore print white.

║ Mushrooms ║