Just made one quick slide in between studying for finals. No time to measure spores til next week.

Alas, solely my own interest. But wouldn’t it be nice if macrofungi were a bigger part of the curriculum?

http://mushroomobserver.org/29439?search_seq=1052727

Christian! You used the Amanita Studies site in high school? Was this part of the curriculum or your own special interest?

Yes, there is something that is called that in the east, but it should be something like “A. vaginata var. alba in the sense of eastern N. American authors.” I’ve collected it several times. We also have a cream-colored member of the “ceciliae group” that is probably confused with the “var. alba” sometimes.

R.

and looks like a white grisette? I believe Ron Pastorino won a NAMA photo contest with an image of it…

as to limbate leps, funny you should mention it…the last pink-gilled amanita that I saw out here was a limbate lep from Santa Cruz, noticed and photographed by David Arora and illustrated and dried by me. I believe you already have the dessicata, Rod…

Standard procedure for Amanita, as I learned from your website back when I was in high school and had no access to Melzer’s.

Amanita alba is a junior synonym of Amanita ovoidea a large European species that is commonly eaten. It’s commonly placed in section Amidella, but Bas and I have both considered the possibility that it should be placed in section Lepidella…possibly in subsection Limbatulae.

When you get a chance to look at this collection. Even though you believe it falls in sect. Vaginatae, I think it would be good to check the spores for the amyloid reaction. I would be very interested in knowing what you find out when you investigate the exsiccata. I would also be interested in seeing them myself sometime.

Very best,

R

Those pink gills tho, not in a velosa.

I’ve heard about that, but I feel fairly confident that these are not A. velosa due to 1) the rusty staining on the volval remnants, which I have never observed in A. velosa, as well as 2) the phenology (fall) and 3) the habitat (pines).
I will be doing a lot of investigation of my old collections starting in a week or so, and this is at the top of my list for examination – I’ll post more information then.

…are simply white specimens of A. velosa.

Are there spores on the herbarium specimen?

R.