Grey Spotted Amanita (ID Confirmation Please)

[Lancashire Lad]

Found this today, growing directly from soil/leaf litter. (Slightly past its best, and somewhat slug eaten - so there is little left of volva remnants for identification purposes).

Cap about 6cm diameter, stipe height about 7-8cm, swollen base, very deeply rooted.

Initially thought it was Panthercap - Amanita pantherina, but on closer ispection the ring has distinct grooving on the upper surface, so I'm now thinking it is Grey Spotted Amanita - Amanita excelsa var.spissa.



Regards
Mike.

[wildherbalian85]

That is one battered mushroom....... such poor condition

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

That is one battered mushroom....... such poor condition

Well it was all that I found and I did mention the fact in the original post

[NickCantle]

I say you're right with A. spissa Mike. One thing worth noting that will never have you confusing A. pantherina with A. excelsa again is what's in the ground. Amanita pantherina has a tight bag that the bottom of the stipe sits in, similar to that of A. phalloides and A. virosa, but not quite so shaggy. On the other hand, A. excelsa has a basal bulb which is a bulbous chunk of flesh fused to the stipe, rather than a physical bag which you can remove the stipe from. This is exhibited by other Amanitaceae such as A. muscaria and A. rubescens.

Hope that helps

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

....On the other hand, A. excelsa has a basal bulb which is a bulbous chunk of flesh fused to the stipe, rather than a physical bag which you can remove the stipe from....

Cheers Nick. Definitely A.excelsa then, because I dug this one up, and it did have a very definite swollen & deeply rooted base to the stipe itself - which in this instance could in no way be described as a bag that contained the stipe.

Regards
Mike.

[NickCantle]

It was something that definitely gave me that extra confidence with aforementioned species, as I used to be finding these fairly rare 'Panthercaps' quite alot

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

It was something that definitely gave me that extra confidence with aforementioned species, as I used to be finding these fairly rare 'Panthercaps' quite alot

Yeah, me too Nick
John

[FungiJohn]

The main difference between these two species is that the Panther Cap has almost pure white veil fragments on it's (normally ochre-brown) cap rather than ... grey! I've never found it up here ... yet
John