Grisettes

[cowshill]

As I posted a few weeks back, I have been seeing a large number of Amanita submembranacea here in my fungus hunting country of upper Weardale. Although they have no common English name, they are definitely of the same type as the various grisette amanitas, yet I had never seen any of the grisettes in my foraging. This finally changed as, just as a. submembranacea seemed to be going to ground, and despite a recent 10 days of very dry weather, a. fulva, the tawny grisette, has suddenly made an appearance in numbers.



Even while the a. fulva were deciding to emerge, the a. submembranacea were suffering from drought, as evidenced by these 3 photos, all taken in the same location and on the same day. The mature specimen had opened fully before the drought took effect, and the other two, which had emerged a few days later, apparently did not have enough moisture to grow to maturity.



And here's a comparison of a. fulva and a. submembranacea as newly emerged specimens, showing the color difference, which is the only obvious distinction (to me at least) between the two species.



- Jim

[ManwithNoname]

When you say Amanita fulva, are you sure you mean this, Jim?

There are no photos of Amanita fulva in your selection above.

[cowshill]

Originally Posted by ManwithNoname

When you say Amanita fulva, do you really mean Amanita fulva, Jim?

There are no photos of Amanita fulva in your selection above.

Well blow me down for an ignorant newbie in that case!

Then what are the browner capped fungi in the top row of my post and the left of the bottom row? They look a lot like several photos of young amanita fulva in the Gallery. But then, I am, indeed, an ignorant newbie!

- Jim

[ManwithNoname]

The cap of Amanita fulva is much more of an orange-red than the specimens in your photo, hence the name 'tawny' grisette. But the easiest way to identify Amanita fulva is to look at the volva, which is white with rusty staining (check out some photos of correctly identified Amanita fulva). The specimens in your photo have a grey volva, which rules out Amanita fulva.

I suspect your middle row of photos show Amanita vaginata. But as for specimens with olive tones in the cap, I've given up trying to do them from a photo. I need the specimen in my hand, an up-to-date key and microscopical information before I'll venture an identification because I don't find them often enough to separate the various species in the field.

Maybe someone with more experience of this group will be able to put a name to your finds.

[cowshill]

Ah, well, as I wrote, I've never found a. fulva, and I guess I haven't yet. A lot easier to identify a species after you've seen a few specimens in the flesh!!

- Jim

[ron1863]

An easy mistake to make Jim....I know, I thought these were A. fulva but they are also A. vaginata.

Young specimens


A few days later.