Amanita silvicola, also known as the woodland amanita or Kauffman's forest amanita, is a species of Amanita found in coniferous woods the Pacific Northwest and California.[1][2][3]

Amanita silvicola
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Amanitaceae
Genus: Amanita
Species:
A. silvicola
Binomial name
Amanita silvicola
Kauffman 1925

A. silvicola is a small to medium-sized white mushroom, distinguishable from most other white Amanita species by its short stalk.[4][5] Its cap ranges from 5–12 cm and is pure white, convex to flat, often with an incurved margin.[6] The cap is initially rounded, covered in a "wooly"[3] outer veil that later leaves soft patchy remnants across its surface as it flattens.[1][7] The stem is patched with volva remains, and is slightly larger at its base.[7] Gills are white, close and crowded, and free, just reaching the stem, or to narrowly adnate.[8][9][1] The flesh of A. silvicola does not change colour when bruised or cut, but it's cap may discolour with age.[10][8]

Amanita silvicola
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is convex or flat
Hymenium is free or adnate
Stipe has a volva
Spore print is white
Ecology is mycorrhizal
Edibility is unknown

The edibibility of A. Silivicola is uncertain,[11] but, due to its close resemblance to two poisonous mushrooms in the Amanita genus, A. pantherina and A. Smithiana, experimentation with this mushroom is strongly advised against.[6][7][12][13][14]

Description

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The cap of A. silvicola are 5 to 12 cm wide, dry and pure white in color.[1][8] In advanced age and with decay, the cap may discolour, developing, as observed by Kauffman, "bright rose-colored spots and streaks".[9] Younger fruiting bodies (mushrooms) are covered by a fluffy continuous universal veil, which breaks up irregularly across its slightly sticky surface into soft powdery patches instead of firm warts.[1][6][3][15] The flesh of the cap thins considerably at its margin, which remains incurved into maturity.[9] The gills are white and crowded together and have a free to narrowly adnate attachment, though sometimes reach towards the stipe in a deccurent tooth.[1][15] The gills are medium broad, 6-7mm, with cottony edges, and in maturity they project below the margin of the cap.[1][15] A. silvicola spores 8.0-10.0 μm by 4.2-6.0 μm, they are smooth, amyloid, ellipsoid and colourless, leaving a white spore print.[1][12]

The stem is 50 to 120mm long,12 to 25mm thick and stout, tapering slightly as it reaches the cap.[3][6] It sometimes has a slight ring on its cap.[7] A. silvicola rarely roots, it has a basal marginate bulb (distinctly separate from the stem) at its base, about 3–4 cm thick with wooly veil remnants on its margin.[12][16][17] The flesh of A. silvicola is white and does not change color when cut.[18]

Habitat and distribution

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Amanita silvicola is found in the Pacific northwest of North America, California, and more rarely in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The IUCN Red List has assessed it as Least Concern (LC), as the population is stable and "locally common" in the Pacific northwest and California.[2]

A. silvicola is a terrestrial species, it can be found as a solitary mushroom or in small groups in coniferous woods, especially under Western Hemlock.[2][12][19] It has a preference for areas of high rainfall.[2]

 
American Botanist and Mycologist Calvin Henry Kauffman

Taxonomy and Etymology

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The species was first described and named by Kauffman in 1925, who had collected the type specimen in Mt. Hood, Oregon on September 30, 1922.[8][9][20][21] The species epithet silvicola is derived from silva, Latin for "wood" or "forest", and -cola, Latin suffix for "dweller of" or "inhabiting", referring to its habitat.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Taxonomy and Morphology of Amanita and Limacella". Amanitaceae.org. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  2. ^ a b c d "Woodland Amanita". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021. Retrieved 31 Dec 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Phillips, Roger (2005). Mushrooms & other fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 25. ISBN 1554071151.
  4. ^ Trudell, Steve; Ammirati, Joe; Mello, Marsha (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Or.: Timber Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0881929355.
  5. ^ Pearson, Lorentz C. (1987). The Mushroom Manual: Tops! Complete for College Class : Simple for You and Me. Happy Camp, CA: ppNaturegraph Publishers]]. p. 60. ISBN 0879611618.
  6. ^ a b c d "E-Flora BC Atlas Page". linnet.geog.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  7. ^ a b c d McKenny, Margaret (1987). The new savory wild mushroom (Revised ed.). Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0295964804.
  8. ^ a b c d Hotson, J.W. "The Amanitae of Washington". Mycologia. 28 (1): 73. Archived from the original on 28 Aug 2021. Retrieved 1 Jan 2024 – via Archive.org.
  9. ^ a b c d Kauffman, C. H. (1925). Russula, Gomphidius, Lepiota and fungous flora of Mt. Hood and higher Rockies. pp. 123–124. doi:10.5962/t.173116. OCLC 18655726. Archived from the original on 14 Feb 2008. Retrieved 1 Jan 2024.
  10. ^ Smith, Alexander H. (1975). A field guide to Western mushrooms. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. pp. 168–169. ISBN 0472855999.
  11. ^ "Amanita silvicola - Burke Herbarium Image Collection". burkeherbarium.org. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  12. ^ a b c d Lincoff, Gary (1981). The Audubon Society field guide to North American mushrooms. New York: Random House. p. 546. ISBN 0394519922.
  13. ^ Smith, Alexander H (1970). Mushrooms in their natural habitats. New York: Hafner Press. pp. 422–423. ISBN 0028524209.
  14. ^ Hyatt, Chad (2018). The Mushroom Hunter's Kitchen. Sane Jose, CA: Chestnut Fed Books. p. 20. ISBN 9781732757103.
  15. ^ a b c MacKnight, Kent H.; MacKnight, Vera B. (1987). A field guide to Mushrooms: North America. The Peterson field guide series. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-395-42101-7.
  16. ^ Smith, Alexander. H (1979). How to know the gilled mushrooms. Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company. p. 170. ISBN 0697047725.
  17. ^ "Mushroom stipe shape". website.nbm-mnb.ca. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
  18. ^ Nakamura, Naoshi (1970). "A Survey of Amanita in Western Washington, U. S. A." (PDF). Bulletin of Science & Engineering Division, University of Ryukyus. (13): 123–170.
  19. ^ Siegel, Noah; Schwarz, Christian (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of Coastal Northern California (illustrated ed.). Emeryville, CA: Ten speed press. p. 41. ISBN 978-1607748182.
  20. ^ "Index Fungorum - Names Record". www.indexfungorum.org. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  21. ^ "ChecklistBank". www.checklistbank.org. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  22. ^ "Sporothrix silvicola R. Jankowiak & P. Bilanski 2023, sp. nov. - Plazi TreatmentBank". treatment.plazi.org. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
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