Amanita atkinsoniana?

[1left]

Hi, I just signed up as a member last evening and I'm certainly enjoying what I've seen so far on this site. Here are a couple photos of what might be Amanita atkinsoniana taken on Oct 21/13 which if my suspicion is correct makes this a rare find in my neck of the woods in New Brunswick, Canada.

This mushroom has been dried and I will later send it away for identification and donation to the provincial museum, but I'm curious if any of you folks are familiar with this one enough to ID it based on these 2 photos?

[Dave W]

Amanita atkinsoniana looks like a good possibility. If I am correctly interpreting the photo, then the one feature that stands out is that the basal warts left behind by the universal veil extend all the way down to nearly the bottom of the bulb. Amanita Studies website lists this as a distinctive feature of A. atkinsoniana. But what sorta bothers me is that the basal warts seem to thin out toward the bottom of the bulb. Also, the warts on the cap are very large and closely spaced.

http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Amanita+atkinsoniana

This species has an extensive north-to-south range in NA. I have collected only two specimens, which were each IDed by Rod Tulloss on Mushroom Observer. I do not have a real good feel for the variation in macro-features possible with this species.

http://mushroomobserver.org/51228?q=1cRdT

http://mushroomobserver.org/16429?q=1cRdT

The second link (directly above) shows a real monster that I found in my local area. Note the warts covering almost the entire bulb. Amanitas from section Lepidella are often relatively easy to ID to section, but difficult to ID to species.

Nicely photographed!

[1left]

I just checked the stem on the dried mushroom which is the one in the photos and the warts do only appear on a small section on the top half of the stem. It is interesting to see there are quite a few different Amanitas in the section Lepidella this mushroom could be. The mushroom was found on a disturbed site, right on the edge of a mud road between 2 large eastern white pines and there were also a few beech trees around.

Thanks Dave W for the good info. I'll enjoy taking some time to become more familiar with some of these Lepidella mushrooms. cheers

[Dave W]

Another possibility for this Lepidella is Amanita onusta.

http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Amanita+onusta

Except, the warts on the cap seen here in your post, 1left, look large for this type, and maybe not quite gray enough for onusta. This specimen seems interesting to me.

[1left]

Yes, I send these photos originally to a mycologist in my home province and I threw both atkinsoniana and onusta at him at that time as they were the only 2 Amanita mushrooms on the mycoquebec.org website this mushroom resembled to me. He leaned towards atkinsoniana though he was also concerned like yourself about the stipe and not so much about the cap warts though he like myself have never collected either mushroom before. Mycoquebec's Amanita onusta photos have very shallow cut warts on their caps though the photos you suggested on the Rod Tulloss site do look more so like my photos.

Since this mushroom was unlike any Amanita I have ever seen in my area I was quite fascinated by it and its characteristic were unusual with a crusty cap with soft crumbly marshmallow like flesh under the cap and the stem flesh was also the texture of marshmallow inside and the stem broke apart 3/4 up as I gently tried to unearth it.. The scent of the mushroom was strong fresh and also while drying. I found a few more new to me mushrooms this year I couldn't come up with a solid ID on. I should sent in a photo or 2 to see if some folks have any suggestions.