White Amanita (Fly Agaric)

Description:

Amanita muscaria is the type species of the genus Amanita. By extension, it is also the type species of Amanita subgenus Amanita, as well as section Amanita within this subgenus. Amanita subgenus Amanita includes all Amanita with inamyloid spores. Amanita section Amanita includes those species with patchy universal veil remnants, including a volva that is reduced to a series of concentric rings and the veil remnants on the cap being a series of patches or warts. Most species in this group also have a bulbous base.[14][15] Amanita section Amanita consists of A. muscaria and its close relatives, including A. pantherina (the panther cap), A. gemmata, A. farinosa, and A. xanthocephala.[16] Modern fungal taxonomists have classified Amanita muscaria and its allies this way based on gross morphology and spore inamyloidy. Two recent molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed this classification as natural.[17][18] Amanita muscaria varies considerably in its morphology and many authorities recognize a number of subspecies or varieties within the species. In The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy, German mycologist Rolf Singer listed three subspecies, though without description: A. muscaria ssp. muscaria, A. muscaria ssp. americana, and A. muscaria ssp. flavivolvata.[14] Contemporary authorities recognize up to seven varieties: var. muscaria, the typical red-and-white spotted variety. Some authorities, such as Rodham Tulloss, only use this name for Eurasian and western Alaskan populations.[15][19] var. flavivolvata is red, with yellow to yellowish-white warts, and occurs in the western regions of the North American continent, from southern Alaska down through the Rocky Mountains, through Central America, to at least Andean Colombia. Rodham Tulloss uses this name to describe all "typical" A. muscaria from indigenous New World populations from Alaska southward.[15][20] var. alba, an uncommon fungus, has a white to silvery white cap with white warts but otherwise similar to the usual form.[15][21] var. formosa, has a yellow to orange-yellow cap with yellowish or tan warts and stem. Some authorities use this name for all A. muscaria fitting this description worldwide (cf. Jenkins), others (cf. Tulloss) restrict its use to Eurasian populations.[15][22] Amanita muscaria var. guessowii has a yellow cap surface. Middlesex Fells, Massachusettsvar. guessowii is yellow to orange, with center of cap more orange or reddish orange than the outer part. It is found throughout North America, but is most common in northeastern North America, from Newfoundland and Quebec down to Tennessee. Some authorities (cf. Jenkins) treat these populations as part of A. muscaria var. formosa, while others (cf. Tulloss) recognize it as a distinct variety.[15][22] var. persicina is pinkish to orangish "melon" colored with poorly formed or absent remnants of universal veil on the stem and vasal bulb, known from the Southeastern Coastal areas of the U.S.A, described in 1977.[15][23] var. regalis from Scandinavia and Alaska,[24] is liver-brown and has yellow warts. It appears to be uniformly distinctive and some authorities (cf. Tulloss) treat it as a separate species, while others (cf. Jenkins) treat it as a variety of A. muscaria.[

Notes:

The toxins in A. muscaria are water soluble. When sliced thinly, or chopped into thin dice and boiled in plentiful water until thoroughly cooked, it seems to be detoxified.[63] Although its consumption as a food has never been widespread, the consumption of detoxified A. muscaria has been practiced in some localities in Europe (notably by Russian settlers in Siberia) since at least the 19th century, and likely earlier. The German physician and naturalist Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff wrote the earliest published account on how to detoxify this mushroom in 1823. In the late 19th Century, the French physician Félix Archimède Pouchet was a popularizer and advocate of A. muscaria consumption, comparing it to manioc, an important food source in tropical South America that nevertheless must be detoxified before consumption.[63] Use of this mushroom as a food source also seems to have existed in North America as well. A classic description of this use of A. muscaria by an African-American mushroom seller in Washington, D.C., in the late nineteenth century is described by American botanist Frederick Vernon Coville. In this case, the mushroom, after parboiling, and soaking in vinegar is made into a mushroom sauce for steak.[110] It is also consumed as a food in parts of Japan. The most well-known current use as an edible mushroom is in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. There, it is primarily salted and pickled.[111] A 2008 paper by food historian William Rubel and mycologist David Arora gives a history of consumption of A. muscaria as a food and describes detoxification methods. They advocate that Amanita muscaria be described in field guides as an edible mushroom, though accompanied by a description on how to detoxify it. The authors state that the widespread descriptions in field guides of this mushroom as poisonous is a reflection of cultural bias, as several other popular edible species, notably morels, are toxic unless properly cooked.