Amanita silvicola, also known as the Woodland Amanita or Kauffman's Forest Amanita, is a species of Amanita found in coniferous woods the Pacific Northwest and California.[1][2][3]
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A. silvicola is a small to medium-sized white mushroom, distinguishable from most other white Amanita species by its short stalk.[4][5] Its cap ranges from 5–12 cm and is pure white, convex to flat, often with an incurved margin.[6] The cap is initially rounded, covered in a "wooly"[3] outer veil that later leaves soft patchy remnants across its surface as it flattens.[1][7] The stem is patched with volva remains, and is slightly larger at its base.[7] Gills are white, close and crowded, and free, just reaching the stem, or to narrowly adnate.[8][9][1] The flesh of A. silvicola does not change colour when bruised or cut, but it's cap may discolour with age.[10][8]
Quick Facts Amanita silvicolaMycological characteristics ...
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The edibibility of A. Silivicola is uncertain,[11] but, due to its close resemblance to two poisonous mushrooms in the Amanita genus, A. pantherina and A. Smithiana, experimentation with this mushroom is strongly advised against.[6][7][12][13][14]
The cap of A. silvicola are 5 to 12 cm wide, dry and pure white in color.[1][8] In advanced age and with decay, the cap may discolour, developing, as observed by Kauffman, "bright rose-colored spots and streaks".[9] Younger fruiting bodies (mushrooms) are covered by a fluffy continuous universal veil, which breaks up irregularly across its slightly sticky surface into soft powdery patches instead of firm warts.[1][6][3][15] The flesh of the cap thins considerably at its margin, which remains incurved into maturity.[9] The gills are white and crowded together and have a free to narrowly adnate attachment, though sometimes reach towards the stipe in a deccurent tooth.[1][15] The gills are medium broad, 6-7mm, with cottony edges, and in maturity they project below the margin of the cap.[1][15] A. silvicola spores 8.0-10.0 μm by 4.2-6.0 μm, they are smooth, amyloid, ellipsoid and colourless, leaving a white spore print.[1][12]
The stem is 50 to 120mm long,12 to 25mm thick and stout, tapering slightly as it reaches the cap.[3][6] It sometimes has a slight ring on its cap.[7] A. silvicola rarely roots, it has a basal marginate bulb (distinctly separate from the stem) at its base, about 3–4 cm thick with wooly veil remnants on its margin.[12][16][17] The flesh of A. silvicola is white and does not change color when cut.[18]
The species was first described and named by Kauffman in 1925, who had collected the type specimen in Mt. Hood, Oregon on September 30, 1922.[8][9][20][21] The species epithet silvicola is derived from silva, Latin for "wood" or "forest", and -cola, Latin suffix for "dweller of" or "inhabiting", referring to its habitat.[22]
Phillips, Roger (2005). Mushrooms & other fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 25. ISBN 1554071151. Trudell, Steve; Ammirati, Joe; Mello, Marsha (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Or.: Timber Press. p. 88. ISBN 0881929352. Pearson, Lorentz C. (1987). The Mushroom Manual: Tops! Complete for College Class : Simple for You and Me. Happy Camp, CA: ppNaturegraph Publishers]]. p. 60. ISBN 0879611618. Lincoff, Gary (1981). The Audubon Society field guide to North American mushrooms. New York: Random House. p. 546. ISBN 0394519922. Smith, Alexander H (1970). Mushrooms in their natural habitats. New York: Hafner Press. pp. 422–423. ISBN 0028524209. Hyatt, Chad (2018). The Mushroom Hunter's Kitchen. Sane Jose, CA: Chestnut Fed Books. p. 20. ISBN 9781732757103. MacKnight, Kent H.; MacKnight, Vera B. (1987). A field guide to Mushrooms: North America. The Peterson field guide series. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-395-42101-7. Smith, Alexander. H (1979). How to know the gilled mushrooms. Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company. p. 170. ISBN 0697047725. Siegel, Noah; Schwarz, Christian (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of Coastal Northern California (illustrated ed.). Emeryville, CA: Ten speed press. p. 41. ISBN 1607748185.