Are these Destroying Angels?

[JKsea]

Came across these very white (whiter than pictures show actually) what seems to me like poisonous Amanitas. I've seen these from different locations on different days and would like to know exactly what they are. Destroying Angels? didn't dig them up to see the volva up close though. Pictures of very young stage and fully matured. What do you guys think?

[Tasso]

Destroying angels have bald caps, so this is something else. Maybe A. smithiana???  http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_smithiana.html

[JKsea]

43 minutes ago, Tasso said:

Destroying angels have bald caps, so this is something else. Maybe A. smithiana???  http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_smithiana.html

Thanks for that link. It does look very similar.

So, you don't think this cap is bald? Do Destroying Angels stay bald and white even at very old stage?

[Dave W]

First photo showing mushrooms with lots of scales on the caps and stems... probably a species from Amanita section Lepidella  (which contains the species A. smithiana). Lots of possibilities here, and most --if not all-- of these types are dangerously poisonous. 

2nd and 3rd photos may be something different. Need to see more details... undersides of caps, stalk base (which needs to be dug up). 

[JKsea]

On 11/8/2016 at 11:39 AM, Dave W said:

First photo showing mushrooms with lots of scales on the caps and stems... probably a species from Amanita section Lepidella  (which contains the species A. smithiana). Lots of possibilities here, and most --if not all-- of these types are dangerously poisonous. 

2nd and 3rd photos may be something different. Need to see more details... undersides of caps, stalk base (which needs to be dug up). 

Thanks for the confirmation. I was quite sure the two are same mushrooms but maybe not. I remember digging one up last year that was just about to open up its cap (between the above two stages), and seeing the root, I thought it was Destroying Angel. The smell was something like a pesticide (if you ever took a whiff of pesticide, you know what I mean) or a musky mold.

[Dave W]

Not difficult to believe the 2nd and 3rd photos show the same species. Mushrooms often change their appearance as they mature. Seeing the "root" supports the "Lepidella" proposal. Destroying Angels --like Tasso says-- do not have scaly caps. 

[Tasso]

The root points to A smithiana in the PNW. According to MykoWeb it is deadly poisonous. http://www.mykoweb.com/TFWNA/P-30.htm  Even though it's deadly it is not commonly referred to as Destroying Angel.

[Dave W]

Looking at the types of Amanitas reported from OR, WA, N CA, it looks like there aren't many species from section Lepidella that occur out that way. Aside from A. smithiana, there's A. silvicola, and as Tasso said, smithiana is the species that features the root on the base of the stem. East of the Rockies there's pretty good diversity within Lepidella. But as is often true, things are much different along the west coast.

[Tasso]

http://www.cascademyco.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2964