Amanita porphyria
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Amanita porphyria, also known as the grey veiled amanita or the porphyry amanita,<ref name=NGSWG>Template:NGSWG</ref> is a fairly common, inedible mushroom of the genus Amanita found in Europe and North America.
Taxonomy
This fungus was described in 1805 under the current name, Amanita porphyria, by Johannes Baptista von Albertini and Lewis David de Schweinitz in their work Conspectus Fungorum in Lusatiae superioris agro Niskiensi crescentium e methodo Persooniana ("An overview of fungi growing in the area of Niesky in Upper Lusatia, according to the methodology of Persoon").<ref name="Hewitt" /> The name was then sanctioned by Elias Magnus Fries, meaning that the name Amanita porphyria is given priority even if the normal nomenclatural rules would give precedence to another nameTemplate:Sndand indeed the Danish mycologist Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher had already described the same species as Agaricus gracilis in 1803. The sanctioning can be shown in the author string by means of a colon as in the following: "A. porphyria Alb. & Schwein. : Fr."<ref name="SF1" /><ref name="Hewitt" />
The epithet porphyria comes from the Ancient Greek word porphúra (πορφύρα), meaning the Tyrian purple dye. This colour may be seen in the cap of the mushroom (though it is not always evident).<ref name="liddell" />
Description
The smooth cap is hemispherical when young and later flat, sometimes with grey patches of veil.<ref name="Phillips" /><ref name="FN" /> It is about Template:Convert in diameter,<ref name="Bon" /><ref name="Eyssartier" /><ref name="FN" /> and brown with either a purplish or a greyish hue.<ref name="Bon" /><ref name="Kuo" /><ref name="FN" /><ref name="Phillips" /><ref name="Laessoe2019" /> As is normal in the genus, the gills are whitish and free from the stem and the spores are white. The gills darken when bruised.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The stem is 5–12 cm high and 0.6–1.5 cm thick, with a basal bulb which may<ref name=Bon/><ref name=Eyssartier/><ref name=Kuo/> or may not<ref name="Laessoe2019"/> be surrounded by a white membranous volva.<ref name=FN/> The fragile ring is grey-violet<ref name=Bon/><ref name=Eyssartier/> or blackened.<ref name=FN/><ref name=Phillips/>
The flesh is white with a smell of raw potato<ref name=Bon/><ref name=FN/><ref name="Laessoe2019"/> or radish.<ref name=Bon/><ref name=Eyssartier/> The amyloid<ref name=Eyssartier/> spores are almost spherical with a diameter of 8–10 μm.<ref name=FN/><ref name="Laessoe2019"/>
Similar species
A. porphyria is similar in overall shape and smell to the very common A. citrina, but the cap colour is different and the ring has a grey/violet coloration.<ref name="Bon" /> It can also be confused with the panther cap (A. pantherina)
Distribution and habitat
A. porphyria usually grows on poor soil under coniferous trees, especially spruce,<ref name="Laessoe2019"/> but also fir,<ref name=Eyssartier/> hemlock,<ref name=Kuo/> and some deciduous ones such as birch.<ref name=FN/> It is mycorrhizal, living in symbiosis with the trees.<ref name=Kuo/>
It occurs from summer to autumn and is commoner in mountains or further to the north.<ref name=Bon/><ref name=Eyssartier/> In Europe it is very common in boreal or hemiboreal forests but less so in temperate areas.<ref name=FN/> It is also found in northern North America from east to west. There was some uncertainty whether North American specimens should really be classified under a different name,<ref name=Kuo/> but there is now firm DNA evidence that all the variants actually belong to the same species.<ref name=Amanitaceae/> It has also been recorded in Australia.<ref name=Australia/>
Toxicity
A. porphyria is not suitable for consumption. More importantly, it can easily be confused with much more poisonous species, such as A. phalloides (the death cap).<ref name="Phillips" />
See also
References
Further reading
- E. Garnweidner. Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe. Collins. 1994.
External links
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