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Technical description not yet available.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: (t.b.d.)

The spores measure (5.8-) 8.4 - 12.2 (-14.2) x (4.5-) 5.2 - 7.2 (-9.0) µm and are mostly ellipsoid to elongate (a few are broadly ellipsoid or cylindric) and amyloid. Clamps are not found at the base of basidia.

This species is the type species of Amanita section Amidella. Amanita volvata is known from eastern North America [Prov. Nova Scotia (?) southward to Louisiana and Texas and westward to the limit of distribution of oak]. The species of southern California that has been called A. volvata is "A. fallax Tulloss & G. Wright nom. prov."

In eastern North America, A. volvata is the rather large, robust species with densely floccose upper stipe and subglobose to broadly ellipsoid volva. There are a number of other taxa of Amanita section Amidella occurring in the same region -- described (A. peckiana Kauffman in Peck and Amanitopsis volvata var. elongata Peck) and undescribed. Two that have received some discussion in correspondence, keys, and at forays are my species numbers 41 and 50. The species most often depicted in field guides as A. volvata is the significantly smaller Amanita species 41. See the checklist/picturebook for the the New Jersey Pine Barrens etc. or the key to Amanita for eastern North America (work in progress). [It is a PDF file requiring Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or later.]

While a few American taxa in section Amidella can be distinguished macroscopically, after 25 years of concentration on this section, my own rate of accurate field identification of medium-sized specimens of all taxa ranges from about 60 to 80% correct. Micoscopic characters are key to certainty of determination in Amanita section Amidella.

Amanita volvata is similar to a large number of other taxa of section Amidella in its bruising and staining reactions. In Asia, see A. avellaneosquamosa (S. Imai) S. Imai, A. clarisquamosa (S. Imai) S. Imai in E.-J. Gilbert, and A. duplex Corner & Bas. Many references to A. volvata in the Asian literature refer to one of the first two listed. For determination of similar taxa in sub-Saharan Africa, see A. fulvopulverulenta Beeli and A. goossensiae Beeli (and its possible synonym A. fulvosquamulosa Beeli). In Europe and the Mediterranean region, see A. curtipes E.-J. Gilbert, A. lepiotoides Barla, A. ponderosa Malenç. & R. Heim in Malenç., and A. valens (E.-J. Gilbert) Bertault. The Australian taxa probably assignable to Amanita section Amidella are not well known to me. -- R. E. Tulloss

Photos: Steven Harsch (middle row-right, Louisiana, USA), R. E. Tulloss (all other images, New Jersey, USA),

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Last change 5 July 2008.
This page is maintained by R. E. Tulloss<
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005 by Rodham E. Tulloss.
Photographs copyright 2003 by Rodham E. Tulloss.
Photograph copyright 2003 by Steven Harsch.