Amanita muscaria
Amanita chrysoblema


Amanita muscaria © iNaturalist user naomimoriyama1, Amanita chrysoblema ©
Steve Trudell



Amanita chrysoblema orange, yellow and white forms, © Steve Trudell, Janet
Lindgren and Steve Trudell
These are the famous Alice In Wonderland/Mario Brothers mushrooms with
colourful caps (red, orange, yellow or white) with pale, removable warts
on the caps from the universal veil, or "egg" that the mushroom appears to hatch
out of.
The true Amanita muscaria is
uncommon in the PNW, usually found under
introduced trees with almost pure white warts.
Amanita chrysoblema, our abundant, spring and fall ubiquitous
species found under
native conifer and hardwood trees usually has yellowish warts
(except the white form which usually has no colour in the warts either). What to
call it was somewhat of a puzzle. It is too genetically distant from
A. muscaria
to be considered a variety, although we have some variety names for it.
Traditionally, the different colour forms (red, orange, yellow and white) would
each get their own variety or subspecies, but now we know there is no genetic
difference between the colours, so that is not valid. (It would be valid to give
each of them their own form, though. That simply means they look
different and does not try to imply any genetic relationships).
First, we have to decide how many species are in the group. There are 4 clades
of North American muscaria-like sequences that differ from each other by only 1
or 2 bp in ITS. That is usually not enough to be considered separate species,
although that does happen if there are clear ecological, morphological or
microscopic differences as well. If they are to be kept separate, here is how
they work out:
-
A. muscaria var guessowii from 1933 from eastern Canada (and also the
eastern US) is probably in the first clade (described as yellow-orange)
-
A. muscaria subsp flavivolvata from 1958 from California (and also
found in the SW and Mexico, but not in the PNW) (described as red)
-
Found in eastern North America, no name attached to it yet, that I can find
-
A. muscaria var alba from 1897 and A. chrysoblema from 1918
from eastern North America (also found in the PNW) (described as white)
Eastern North America probably has examples of three of the four clades, but the
only clade found in the PNW so far is clade 4. That does have a valid name,
Amanita chrysoblema. Two names were given to white forms, one of them at the
variety level (var alba) and one at the species level (A. chrysoblema)
so even though the variety name is older, since this needs to be a distinct
species from A. muscaria, the newer species name A. chrysoblema is
a valid name for our species. Remember, the colour turns out to not matter, so
that is a valid name for all of our colour forms.
A. chrysoblema is also the oldest name in all 4 clades, so if they are
considered the same, that name should apply to all of them. If they are to be
considered different species, then things get more complicated. None of the
existing names are distinct species names, they are all varieties and
subspecies, so they will all need new names of their own or need to be
designated varieties or subspecies of A. chrysoblema instead of A.
muscaria. Luckily, here in the PNW, we don't need to worry about that.
We do have a tradition of calling our red forms here in the PNW by the name
A. muscaria var flavivolvata and our yellow forms by the name A.
muscaria var formosa. If all four clades are to be considered the same
species, A. muscaria var flavivolvata is one technically correct name for
all of our colour forms, just not the best name (the best name is A.
chrysoblema because that name does not incorrectly imply that our species is
a variety of A. muscaria. A. muscaria var formosa is a name for
European yellow capped forms, but as I stated, likely represents the exact same
species as A. muscaria, and is not a correct name for our common local
species.
Amanita aprica
This common, similar spring species is usually apricot yellow,
with something between concentric circles and a collar at the base of the
stem, and has a characteristic look like you ironed the warts into the cap.
It was described from Washington.

Amanita aprica © Steve Trudell
Amanita pantherina/gemmata group
These similar mushrooms can also be found in spring and fall, have
yellow or brown caps (a slightly different shade of yellow than A.
muscaria and A. chrysoblema sometimes have) and a
collar volva instead of concentric rings. We do not have either of these
European mushrooms in the PNW (neither A. pantherina nor A. gemmata),
but here's what I have been able to determine about what species we do have (it
should be noted that a recent European study showed that A. gemmata may
actually just refer to A. muscaria, so even in Europe they may start
calling their yellow 'gemmata' species A. junquillea).
Amanita pantherinoides


Amanita pantherindoides © iNaturalist users loather and cyndean
In Mycologia Volume 4 from 1912, Murrill listed all the known Amanitas on
the west coast. Not a lot was known back then, so there are of course many
species missing, but I imagine it is likely that the species he does include are
common species here. Here are the species he described from Seattle that could
represent A. pantherina/gemmata type species:
A. praegemmata - cap only to 6cm, persistent warts, honey-avellaneous
(grey- to pinkish- brown) to dark honey on the margin, white partial veil, stem
1.5cm thick, volva attached rim.
A. pantherinoides - cap thick, small numerous warts, honey
to dirty cream with brown center, white partial veil, stem 2cm thick, volva
entire or undulate free rim
A. umbrinidisca - cap fleshy drying thin, large irregular
patches, honey to straw w/umber disc, white partial veil, stem 1-2cm thick,
volva sub-entire free rim
In 1977, Jenkins studied the types microscopically and synonymized A.
pantherinoides and
A. praegemmata, saying they were likely the same thing, our local
panther species, with A. pantherinoides being the older name (it was
published one paragraph earlier than A. praegemmata). He did not even
consider A. umbrinidisca, because he thought it represented a very
different kind of Amanita, but subsequently, others have figured it probably is
similar to, if not the same species as the others. When we sequenced a couple
dozen or so Seattle area A. pantherina like species, they were all the
same species (we only have one common species).
What does this mean? If we assume that Murrill did not find something
exceedingly rare that has not been found since (and at the same time somehow
avoid finding the very common species), and if we assume that Jenkins was right
and at least two of his species are the same, I believe Amanita
pantherinoides is the correct name for our
common local panther species. But I
cannot rule out the fact that one of Murrill's species might be our local
gemmata-like species. That is a very common species, so why doesn't it appear in
his list?
But for now the mycological community has decided to assume that all three are
the same and they refer to our panther-like species.
Amanita ameripanthera is another name that is being put forward for our
common local species, based on the fact that it is often dark brown instead of
the "honey-avellaneous" and "honey to dirty cream" that was in the Murrill's
descriptions. But there was a wide variety of cap colours in our sequences, from
yellow to brown, and they all sequenced the same, so this appears to be another
case of cap colour not being critically important. This would mean that A.
ameripanthera does not represent a unique species and the name would not be
needed.
Traditionally, it was thought that brown capped species were the panther
species, and yellow capped species were the gemmata species (covered next), but
that's not the way it works out for the two common species in the Seattle are.
Amanita pantherinoides is yellow to brown, stocky, with persistent warts on
the cap. Our gemmata species, Amanita pseudobreckonii n.p., below, is
usually yellow, slender, and has warts that easily wash off.
Amanita pseudobreckonii n.p.

Amanita pseudobreckonii n.p. © Buck McAdoo
This abundant species is always yellowish, usually slender and
the warts wash off pretty easily. California mycologists have this
tentative name for one of their local gemmata-like species. They have more than
one common local species, but since our local species is a genetic sister
species to A. breckonii, that particular name may also represent our
species. I am looking for California sequences to verify this.
Alternatively, it is possible that one of Murrill's three species is not the
same as the others, but represents our common gemmata-like species. If so, that
name from 1912 would be the proper name for our species, not A.
pseudobreckonii n.p. We will need type sequences of his original 1912
collections, if we can get them, to settle the matter.
Other, Southern "panther" and "gemmata" species
In Oregon and California, we have additional
uncommon species not yet found in British
Columbia or Washington.


Amanita "gemmata-NAMA2018" © Corinne Srsen, Amanita "stocky gemmata" © NAMA
and the Field Museum of Natural History
Amanita "gemmata-NAMA2018" is another yellow, slender species with
warts that easily wash off in the gemmata-panther group found in Oregon and
California. I don't yet know how to tell it apart from Amanita
pseudobreckonii, as you can tell from the fact that I described it in
exactly the same way.
Amanita "stocky gemmata" is stocky like Amanita pantherinoides,
but is more consistenly bright yellow. It appears to be more closely
related to Amanita muscaria than it is to the panther-gemmata group, but
it has a collar volva like the latter. It too is found in Oregon and California.
California likely has additional panther-gemmata species in their rich oak
forests and other habitats that aren't present in the PNW.
Amanita alpinicola
This rare species (at least outside of the interior) is stocky, pale yellow
and grows in spring under 5-needle pines. It has a collar volva
and also has fused warts that looked like they were ironed into the cap.
It's often found partially buried. It was described from Montana and
the DNA has been found in Idaho, as well as in WA north of Spokane at 5500' in
July. There are reports that it may be in BC and OR as well, presumably inland
and at elevation.

Amanita alpinicola © Janet Lindgren
Amanita 'farinosa' sensu Thiers
This rare, grey, powdery Amanita looks more like it belongs in section Lepidella than it does
section Amanita, but consensus is strong that it belongs
here. It is grey and powdery everywhere, with not much further evidence
of either a volva or a veil besides the powdery universal veil (the lack
of a ring also making it easily confused with section Vaginatae). The real
Amanita farinosa from Europe and/or Eastern North America is slender and the
cap is striate. Our west coast species, which needs a new name, is stockier
and therefore does not have many striations in the cap (striations
usually come from thin flesh allowing the outline of the gills to be visible
near the rim of the cap).

Amanita 'farinosa' sensu Theirs © Kit Scates Barnhart
Amanita aurantisquamosa
This tan coloured species has hints of orange in the scales,
irregular patches of veil on the cap and a volva that is somewhat
sac-like at first but soon breaking up. It is
rare, only known from Southern Idaho
and we do not have any sequences of it yet.

Amanita aurantisquamosa © Ellen Trueblood