Oh, that is very interesting! I would not have guessed that the colour is so easily washed out. I wonder if this is a common characteristic of the genus..

What I have noticed with this species is, when it has been dried by the sun like this specimen the pileus becomes very dark and almost black, if it has been raining the pigment gets washed out and gives the very pale coloured pileus.
I found another specimen today that has been rained on and looks very pale and the scales have also been washed off, I’ll make a new observation soon!

Interesting Inski! The specimens in the photo of you photographing this species, along with the other photos I have seen, did not look black. This is just a melanistic phenotype, I guess?

New Zealand’s mushrooms on MO.

Best wishes for a terrific 2009-2010 mushrooming season.

Very best,

Rod

yur killin’ me here, Inski! makes my local amanitas seem so darned mundane…