Fungi Friday | Amanita phalloides a.k.a. The Death Cap: ID and Photoreport

So, after I talk about its lookalike species in the last post, today I bring you the infamous and deadly poisonous Amanita phalloides (Vaill. ex Fr.) Link, commonly known as Death Cap!

It's a mycorrhizal mushroom that is widely distributed throughout the European continent, and it can also be found in North Africa and some parts of Asia. It's also an introduced species in North America.

Quick identification:

• The cap is approximately 3 to 15 cm in diameter; ovoid to globose in the first stages, then convex to plane. Variable bright color, from yellowish green, olive green, olive brown to less frequently white; with darker radial fibrils and sometimes with vestiges of the veil, in the form of white, membranous plaques (as shown in some of the photos below); separable smooth cuticle, viscous in wet weather and glossy in dry weather.

• The hymenium is composed of free and tight white gills (turn cream with pinkish hues in advanced stages).

• The stem (6-19 cm x 0.8-3 cm, approx.), cylindrical or clariform, with bulbous base; white or greenish (sometimes with brownish hues), with typical zigzag mottling.

• The ring is persistent, membranous and fragile; greenish-white, striated on the upper surface.

• The volva is large, membranous, sac-like (bag-shaped) and white.

Habitat: It's an ectomycorrhizal species, frequent in thickets (e.g. cistus), hardwood (e.g. holm oak, cork oak, chestnut, oak) and softwood (e.g. pine) forests.

WARNING: It is an inedible DEADLY POISONOUS species!

PHOTOS (All the following photos were taken in the Alentejo region, southern Portugal).

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Amanita phalloides © David Germano | All rights reserved.

Cheers !!!