The Warted Amanita (Amanita strobiliformis) is a large, striking white Amanita, with a cap up to 25 cm across covered in soft, greyish, many-sided warts and ragged veil remains hanging from the edge. The free gills are white and crowded. The stout white stem is ragged and woolly, with a soft ring like cream cheese that soon falls apart, and it tapers into a rooting base.
It grows in open grassland and parks near broadleaf trees such as beech, on chalky clay soils, from July into October, mostly in the south.
The Solitary Amanita (Amanita echinocephala) has spiky, pointed warts, and the deadly Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa) has a smooth cap and a bag-like volva. The Warted Amanita is poisonous and must not be eaten.
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Distribution
Widespread in south
Habitat
In open grassland and parks on calcareous clay soils
Etymology
Amanita is thought to come from Mount Amanus in southern Turkey, though its origin is uncertain. strobiliformis means 'shaped like a pine cone', from the Latin strobilus, after the cone-like scales.
Cap
The cap is white to ash-grey, 6-25 cm across, convex then flattening and often staying slightly domed. It is covered in polygonal warts or patches of veil, soft and creamy-grey and heaviest towards the appendiculate margin.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Shape | Convex, Flattened |
| Surface | Warty |
| Width | 6 - 25 cm |
| Margin | Appendiculate |
Gills
Free and crowded; white.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Attachment | Free |
| Spacing | crowded |
Flesh
White and fairly soft.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Odour | Weak, slightly earthy |
| Taste | Mild or of old ham |
Stem
The stem is white, 10-20 cm long and 20-40 mm wide, rooting at the base, with an irregular, ragged, rugose surface. The veil is soft, with the texture of cream cheese, and rapidly falls apart, leaving a ring zone high on the stem.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Height | 10 - 20 cm |
| Width | 20 - 40 mm |
| Texture | Rugose |
| Shape | Radicant |
| Veil | ring-zone |
| Veil position | apical |
Spores
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Type | amyloid |
| Shape | Ellipsoid, Oblong |
| Ornamentation | Smooth |
| Size | 8-14 x 5.5-8 μm |
Classification
- ↳ Phylum: Basidiomycota
- ↳ Subphylum: Agaricomycotina
- ↳ Class: Agaricomycetes
- ↳ Subclass: Agaricomycetidae
- ↳ Order: Agaricales
- ↳ Family: Amanitaceae
- ↳ Genus: Amanita
Synonyms
- Agaricus strobiliformis Paulet ex Vittad.
- Agaricus strobiliformis Vittad.
- Amanita solitaria sensu Dennis, Orton & Hora [TBMS 43(Suppl.), 1960]
- Amanita strobiliformis (Vitt.) Quel.
- Hypophyllum strobiliforme (Vittad.) Paulet
- Hypophyllum strobiliforme Paulet
Reference Sources
T. Læssøe, J. H. Peterson (2019) Fungi of Temperate Europe Vol. 1. Princeton University Press.
G. Kibby (2020) Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe Vol. 2. Geoffrey Kibby.
G. Kibby (2016) The Genus Amanita in Britain. Geoffrey Kibby.
