Key to Gilled Mushrooms KeyThis is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.
Agaricales OrderFruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)
Amanita GenusFruiting body having a combination of some of the following characteristics:
Stalk growing out of a cup of cottony tissue called a volva (all white-spored mushrooms with a volva go here)
Cap with scattered patches or flakes of the same sort of tissue as the volva (see second picture), easily peeled off
Annulus (skirt-like ring on stalk)
Amanita Section
Diagnosis
- All yellow-capped Amanitas can go here
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All Amanitas with concentric, toothed rings around the base of stalk definitely go here
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No volva; basal bulb sometimes small, often rimmed in one way or another
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Universal veil generally leaves remains on cap as small scattered patches
Microscropic Characters
Narrow down your identification:
Amanita SubSection- Base of stalk has concentric, toothed rings
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Annulus usually present; usually (in my experience) jagged at the edges
Rimmed Bulb Amanitae SubSection- Basal bulb rimmed by a peronate universal veil, creating an effect that is often compared to a sock rolled down at the top
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Cap typically white to greyish brown
Small Yellow Smooth Bulb Amanitae SubSection- Base of stalk slightly and smoothly bulbous
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Cap some shade of yellow; less than 5" across, and usually less than 3
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Annulus usually present, but it may be fragile and easily lost, or plastered to the stem and overlooked
