fungi friday - Amanita pantherina (9 foto)

Well, now let me turn to the topic of my today's lecture. An ugly and unuseful toadstool grew near my countryside cottage last summer. (This summer they also popped up there, but due to the dry weather, the harvest was less than back in 2020, and I almost did no captures). The photos you see below were taken in July 2020. Now their time have come (okay, okay, I’m not going to deceive you: my mouse just accidentally poked into this certain folder!) So, I processed a few photos, and ready to present them.

Amanita pantherina, also known under different names such as panther amanita, panther cap, false blusher (due to the similarity to the true blusher (Amanita rubescens). The species is not uncommon, and occure mostly in Europe and Western Asia, in late summer and autumn, in both deciduous and, less frequently, coniferous woodland, rarely at meadows. Forms mycorrhiza with birch, pine, oak, beech, prefers alkaline soils. Found in deciduous and less often coniferous forests, sometimes in meadows.

The mushroom has two synonyms it can be easily confused. Amanita rubescens (aka Pink-gray fly agaric): it has a ribbed textured top surface of the coil, and its body obtains a pinkish color exposed to the air. It is a common, non-toxic, edible mushroom. The second synonym is the inedible Amanita spissa, which is quite rare. Among its features are: a smooth ring, a less fleshy body and stem, and smaller flakes decorating its cap.

Key features for identification. The cap is grayish, brownish, olive-dirty and light brown in color. The pulp is white, does not change color on air, watery, fragile, with an unpleasant odor and slightly sweetish in taste. The gills are frequent, white, not growing to the stem, sometimes with brownish spots in old mushrooms. The stem is 4-12 cm high, white, cylindrical, tuberous-widened to the downside, hollow inside, stem's surface is slightly fleecy. The coil is located quite low, it may be hanging, smooth, fragile, sometimes it can be absent. #Source: wikipedia.

On the left is a younger edition of this mushroom - at first, the cap is semi-spherical, it becomes flat when the mushroom has matured enough.

It belongs to psychoactive group of mushrooms. It is five times more "effective" and tough than Amanita muscaria. Fun fact: in Netherlands, this mushroom (as well as the red fly agaric) is illegal to buy, sell, or possess. Keeping 0.5 grams of dried Amanita pantherina or more results in criminal charges (if they catch you).