Amanita pantherina
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Amanita pantherina, also known as the panther cap, false blusher, and the panther amanita<ref name=NGSWG>Template:NGSWG</ref> due to its similarity to the true blusher (Amanita rubescens), is a species of fungus found in Eurasia with poisonous and psychoactive properties.
Description
The cap is Template:Convert wide,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> hemispheric at first, then convex to plano-convex, deep brown to hazel-brown to pale ochraceous brown, densely distributed warts that are pure white to sordid cream, minutely verruculose, floccose, easily removable. Viscid when wet, with a short striate margin. The flesh is white,<ref name="Arora1986">Template:Cite book</ref> unchanging when injured.
The gills are adnexed to free,<ref name=":0" /> close to crowded, white becoming greyish, truncate.
The spores are white in deposit, smooth, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid to elongate, inamyloid,<ref name=":0" /> infrequently globose. 8–14 x 6–10 μm.<ref>Kuo, M. (2005, March). Amanita pantherina. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_pantherina.html</ref>
The stipe is 5–15 cm long × .6–3 cm wide,<ref name=":0" /> subcylindric, somewhat narrowing upward, white, becoming slightly tannish in age, stuffed then hollow, finely floccose becoming smooth above the ring, and with small appressed squamules or creamy floccose material below. The volva is white, becoming grey with age, forming one or sometimes two narrow hoop-like rings just above the bulbous base. The flesh is white, unchanging when injured.
The odour is unpleasant or like raw potatoes.
Identifying features
Other than the brownish cap with white warts, distinguishing features of A. pantherina include the collar-like roll of volval tissue at the top of the basal bulb, and the elliptical, inamyloid spores. Unlike A. rubescens, the panther cap does not color red/pink ("blush") when the flesh is damaged, hence its name "false blusher". This is a key feature in differentiating both species.Template:Citation needed
Distribution and habitat
The panther cap is an uncommon mushroom, found in both deciduous, especially beech and, less frequently, coniferous woodland and rarely meadows throughout Europe, western Asia in late summer and autumn.<ref name = "Ultimatemush">Template:Cite book</ref> It has also been recorded from South Africa, where it is thought to have been accidentally introduced with trees imported from Europe and Asia.<ref name="Asef 2020">Template:Cite book</ref>
It is an ectomycorrhizal fungus, living in root symbiosis with a tree, deriving photosynthesised nutrients from it and providing soil nutrients in return.
Toxicity
Template:Main articles A. pantherina is toxic, more so than A. muscaria.<ref name="Arora1986" /> It can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and hyperhidrosis, which can lead to severe dehydration.Template:Citation needed
Varieties multisquamosa and velatipes are considered poisonous.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Psychoactive use
A. pantherina contains the psychoactive compounds ibotenic acid and muscimol,<ref name="Barceloux">Template:Cite book</ref> two psychoactive constituents which can cause effects such as hallucinations, synaesthesia, euphoria, dysphoria and retrograde amnesia. The effects of muscimol and ibotenic acid most closely resemble that of a Z drug, like Ambien at high doses, and not a classical psychedelic, e.g. psilocybin.
A. pantherina is used as an entheogen much less often than its much more distinguishable relative A. muscaria, largely due to being less recognizable and far more potent.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed A. muscaria contains a higher concentration of ibotenic acid.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> While ibotenic acid is mostly broken down by the body into muscimol, what remains of the ibotenic acid is believedTemplate:According to whom to cause the majority of dysphoric effects of consuming psychoactive Amanita species. Ibotenic acid is also a scientifically important neurotoxin used in lab research as a brain-lesioning agent in mice.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
As with other wild-growing mushrooms, the ratio of ibotenic acid to muscimol depends on countless external factors, including: season, age, and habitat—and percentages will naturally vary from mushroom to mushroom—with dark brown A. pantherina specimens having a greater concentration of ibotenic acid.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
Legal status
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A. muscaria and A. pantherina are illegal to buy, sell, or possess in the Netherlands since December 2008. Possession of amounts larger than 0.5 g dried or 5 g fresh lead to a criminal charge.<ref name="dutchProsecution">Openbaar Ministerie (12-01-2008). Paddoverbod van kracht Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 5 May 2016.</ref>
See also
Gallery
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Amanita ameripathera
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Spore print
References
External links
- Webpages on Amanita species by Tulloss and Yang Zhuliang
- Amanita on erowid.org
- Aminita muscaria, Amanita pantherina and others (Group PIM G026) by IPCS INCHEM
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