Amanita pelioma

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by Michael Kuo

Amanita pelioma is a messy, grayish to olive or brownish buff Amanita with gills the color of cafe au lait and a blue-staining stem base. These features alone will reliably separate the species from other amanitas--at least, according to current definitions. Most authors report the species as fairly rare, occurring under pines and oaks in the southeastern United States from eastern Texas to West Virginia. I have found it twice in Illinois, where it appears under oaks.

Amanita pelioma has a large, thick ring which, despite its size, is easily lost early on in development--perhaps leading some authors to designate it as a ringless species.

Edibility is not known for Amanita pelioma, but no amanita should be considered for the table.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers and hardwoods (in Illinois associated with oaks); solitary; summer and fall; distributed from eastern Texas to Illinois, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Cap: 4-9 cm; convex to broadly convex or nearly flat; moist or dry; covered with powdery material that comes off on handling; whitish to grayish or brownish buff, or with olive hues; the margin not lined, but often somewhat shaggy.

Gills: Free from the stem or nearly so; creamy becoming brownish (the color of cafe au lait) or olive buff; crowded.

Stem: 9-15 cm long; up to 1.5 cm thick; tapering slightly to the apex; colored like the cap and covered with similar powdery material; with a large, skirtlike, fragile, whitish ring that usually disappears; terminating in a turnip-shaped basal bulb that often features a tapering "root"; with powdery, indistinct volval remnants; stained bluish to greenish blue near the base.

Flesh: White; unchanging.

Spore Print: White.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative.

Microscopic Features: Spores 8-13.5 x 5-9 µ; smooth; broadly elliptical; amyloid. Basidia 4-spored; lacking basal clamps. Subhymenium with inflated elements.

REFERENCES: Bas, 1969. (Jenkins, 1986; McKnight & McKnight, 1987; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Tulloss et al., 1995; Tulloss, 2003; Tulloss, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 08310501, 06280704.

Further Online Information:

Amanita pelioma at Tulloss's Studies in Amanita

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2008, March). Amanita pelioma. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_pelioma.html