name | Amanita bisporigera |
name status | nomen acceptum |
author | G. F. Atk. |
english name | "North American Two-spored Destroying Angel" |
images |
1. Amanita bisporigera, Vermont, U.S.A. 2. The bright yellow response to 5% (or more concentrated) KOH (potassium hydroxide), Monmouth Co., New Jersey, U.S.A. 3. Amanita bisporigera, New Jersey, U.S.A. 4. Positive reaction to the Wieland Test indicating the probable presence of amatoxin in a specimen attributed to A. bisporigera, South Carolina, U.S.A. |
intro |
Amanita bisporigera is a mushroom that often
contains enough amatoxins to kill an adult
human. It extremely important that this species
and its look alikes become familiar to anyone
planning to collect mushrooms for the table in
eastern North America. This is one of the species
that will often turn bright yellow in response to a
drop of a strong base (like 5-10%KOH) on the
cap. Advisory: This page contains a mixture of species that are presently being separated by genetic studies. Of the apparently distinct taxa that have been treated as A. bisporigera, all with the exception of the true A. bisporigera have 4-spored basidia. |
cap | The cap of Amanita bisporigera is 25 - 100 mm wide, white, occasionally slightly straw yellow to pale tannish to pale pink to rose pink over the center especially in age or when sunburned or in hot and dry weather, sometimes slightly rusty in old wounds, convex to plano-convex, at times with a low broad umbo, slightly viscid when moist, with a nonappendiculate and nonstriate margin, decurved at first. The volva is absent or present as a slight white flocculence on the margin in young fruiting bodies. The flesh is white, unchanging, 5.5 - 6+ mm thick above the stem, thinning evenly for about one-third of the radius (until about 1 mm thick) then thinning more slowly towards the margin. |
gills | The gills are free to barely adnate, crowded, white to off-white in mass, white to barely off-white in side view, unchanging when cut or bruised, 6 - 7.5± mm broad, pointed at both ends to subelliptical, with more tapering toward the stem, with minutely fimbriate (10x lens) white edge, with a sometimes slightly "wavy" edge, and with a decurrent tooth on the top of the stem. The short gills are attenuate to subattenuate to truncate, and numerous. |
stem | The stem is 55 - 140 × 5 - 20 mm, white, narrowing upward, expanded at the top, frequently floccose-fibrillose-squamose, may become smoother with age, and finely longitudinally striate. The bulb is globose to subglobose to irregularly ellipsoid, sometimes subradicating, and 15 - 23 × 13 - 30 mm. The ring is white, superior to subapical, membranous, thin, delicate, skirt-like, very faintly striate above (10x lens), persistent, may become shredded or slip down the stem. The volva is limbate, with 2 or 3 lobes, reaching up to 38 mm from the base of the bulb, about 2 mm thick at the point half way between the attachment to the bulb and the uppermost point of the limb, membranous, white, unstained, becoming appressed to the stem, with no evident internal limb. The flesh is white, unchanging when cut or bruised, solid to firmly stuffed and has whitish or slightly yellowing pith. |
odor/taste | The odor is faintly pleasant at first, but becoming sickeningly sweet in age as in Amanita phalloides (Fr. : Fr.) Link. This species is deadly POISONOUS. |
spores | The spores measure (4.9-) 7.2 - 9.9 (-11.2) × (4.2-) 6.4 - 8.8 (-10.0) µm and are globose to subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, occasionally ellipsoid, very rarely elongate and are amyloid to strongly amyloid. Clamps are absent at bases of basidia. |
discussion |
The species was originally described from western New York State (U.S.A.) and appears to have an extensive range from boreal forests on the island of Newfoundland to pine-oak (Pinus-Quercus) forests in Texas. There is a very similar taxon that responds weakly or negatively to KOH solution in southeastern Arizona and central Mexico. Amanita bisporigera has possibly been exported to pine plantations as far south as Colombia. It is known from the Americas only. Note the yellow reaction to 10% KOH solution on the cap in the background photograph. Amanita bisporigera is deadly POISONOUS. The reader may wish to compare this species with an east Asian 2-spored "Destroying Angel"—A. exitialis Zhu L. Yang & T. H. Li—and the 4-spored east Asian taxa A. subjunquillea var. alba Zhu L. Yang and the European A. virosa (Fr.) Bertillon in DeChambre. We also refer to the recently revised key to the taxa of sect. Phalloideae in North America.—R. E. Tulloss |
brief editors | RET |
name | Amanita bisporigera | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author | G. F. Atk. in C. E. Lewis. 1906. Botanical Gazette 41: 348-352, fig. 74. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
name status | nomen acceptum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
english name | "North American Two-spored Destroying Angel" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
synonyms |
≡Amanitina bisporigera (G. F. Atk.) E.-J. Gilbert. 1940. Iconogr. Mycol. (Milan) 27, suppl. (1): 78, tab. 33 (figs. 3-4).
=Amanita phalloides var. striatula Peck. 1902. Bull. N. Y. St. Mus. 54: 961.
?=Amanita phalloides f. alba sensu E.-J. Gilbert. ?p.p. (“forme américaine”). 1918. Gen. Amanita Pers.: 48. [Misapplication. (See discussion under Amanita phalloides f. alba Britzelm. in Amanita Nomenclator {t.b.d.})]
=Venenarius vernellus Murrill. 1945c. Lloydia 7(4): 315. ≡Amanita vernella (Murrill) Murrill. 1945c. Lloydia 7(4):327. The editors of this site owe a great debt to Dr. Cornelis Bas whose famous cigar box files of Amanita nomenclatural information gathered over three or more decades were made available to RET for computerization and make up the lion's share of the nomenclatural information presented on this site. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MycoBank nos. | 208433 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GenBank nos. |
Due to delays in data processing at GenBank, some accession numbers may lead to unreleased (pending) pages.
These pages will eventually be made live, so try again later.
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holotypes | A. phalloides var. striatula—NYS. V. vernellus—FLAS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
lectotypes | A. bisporigera—numerous syntypes in CUP. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
selected illustrations | E.-J. Gilbert. 1941. Iconogr. Mycol. (Milan) 27, suppl.: 329, tab. 45. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
intro |
The following text may make multiple use of each data field. The field may contain magenta text presenting data from a type study and/or revision of other original material cited in the protolog of the present taxon. The same field may also contain black text, which is data from a revision of the present taxon (including non-type material and/or material not cited in the protolog). Paragraphs of black text will be labeled if further subdivision of this text is appropriate. Olive text indicates a specimen that has not been thoroughly examined (for example, for microscopic details) and marks other places in the text where data is missing or uncertain. The following material not directly from the protolog of the present taxon and not cited as the work of another researcher is based upon original research of R. E. Tulloss. Macroscopic descriptions in magenta are a combination of data from the protologs and additional observations made on the exiccata during revision of the cited original material by RET. Advisory: Due to the mixture of 2- and 4-sterigmate taxa prior to the application of molecular tools to the taxa of toxic species of section Phalloideae, this page made reference to data derived from 4-sterigmate material. This data has been removed from all quantitative data fields. There may still be collections reported in the "material examined" data field in olive type that might be removed after further study. We request our user's patience in this matter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
macrochemical tests |
H2SO4 conc. - negative on pileus surface. KOH soln. (5-10%) - quickly bright yellow on pileus surface. Test vouchers: Halling 7751; Tulloss 7-30-89-H, 7-20-89-P, 7-10-90-B, 8-21-92-B, 8-4-12-U, 8-9-14-H; Vincent 5444. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
lamella trama | bilateral, divergent; ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
subhymenium | pseudoparenchymatous (cellular). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
basidia | 31 - 35 × 8.8 - 9.8 μm, in most cases dominantly (always more than 40%) 2-sterigmate, occasionally 1- or 3- sterigmate, never more tha 50% 4-sterigmate, with sterigmata up to 6.0 × 1.5 μm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
stipe context | longitudinally acrophysalidic; ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
lamella edge tissue | sterile. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
basidiospores | composite of data from all material revised by RET: [412/18/16] (4.9-) 7.2 - 9.9 (-11.2) × (4.2-) 6.4 - 8.8 (-10.0) µm, (L = (7.8-) 7.9 - 9.2 (-9.6) µm; L’ = 8.4 µm; W = (7.0-) 7.1 - 8.1 (-8.2) µm; W’ = 7.5 µm; Q = (1.0-) 1.02 - 1.25 (-1.70); Q = (1.05-) 1.06 - 1.19 (-1.20); Q’ = 1.12), smooth, thin-walled, hyaline, colorless, amyloid to strongly amyloid, infrequently with small widely and irregularly spaced amyloid warts, globose to subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, occasionally ellipsoid, rarely elongate, often somewhat adaxially flattened, sometimes slightly expanded at one end; apiculus sublateral, truncate-conic to cylindric; contents granular to guttulate; white in deposit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ecology | Solitary to gregarious. Florida: In "high hammock" [a relatively limited elevated forested area in the midst of lower, rather wet forest of different composition]. Missouri: At the edge of Quercus-Carya dominated forest. New Jersey: In typical Pinus-Quercus barrens of the sandy coastal plain with Acer rubrum, Nyssa sylvatica, P. rigida, Q. alba, Q. marilandica, other Q. spp. with understory including plentiful Vaccinium spp. North Carolina: In dark loam with Acer sp., Ostrya virginiana, and Rhododendron sp. or in leaf mold in woods or in open Castanea dentata woods. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
material examined |
from Jenkins' (1978a)
type study of A. phalloides var.
striatula:
U. S. A.:
NEW YORK— Warren Co. - Bolton, s.d. C.
H. Peck s.n. (holotype of A. phalloides var.
striatula, NYS). from type study of A. vernella by Jenkins (1979): U. S. A.: FLORIDA— Alachua Co. - Gainesville, 4.x.1943 W. A. Murrill F 20002 (holotype, FLAS). RET: CANADA: ONTARIO—Norfolk Co. - Port Dover [42.7863° N/ 80.198° W, 182 m], 3.viii.2014 E. Skific s.n. [mushroomobserver #172313] (RET 639-1, nrITS seq'd.), 23.vii.2014 E. Skific s.n. [mushroomobserver #171045] (RET 632-7, nrITS & nrLSU seq'd.). COSTA RICA: GUANACASTE—ca. Liberia [10°45'53" N/ 85°18'12" W, 750 m], 26.vi.1997 R. E. Halling 7751 (NY). MEXICO: TLAXCALA—Mpio Panotla - 1 km E of San Francisco Temezontla [2600 m], 29.vii.1994 Adriana Montoya Esquivel, Alejandro Kong Luz, & R. E. Tulloss 8-20-94-L (RET 134-2, nrITS-LSU seq'd.; TLXM), 8-29-94-M (RET 135-5, nrITS seq'd.; TLXM), 8-29-94-N (RET 134-1, nrITS seq'd.; TLXM), 8-29-94-O (RET 134-6, nrITS seq'd.). U.S.A.: ARIZONA—Cochise Co. - CMP site #27, 21.viii.1992 W. J. Sundberg s.n. [CMP1347 ; Tulloss 8-21-92-B] (LAM; RET). Graham Co. - Pinallones Mtns., Mt. Graham, 7.ix.1986 J. S. States AEF438 (MICH). FLORIDA—Alachua Co. - Gainesville, 4.x.1943 W. A. Murrill s.n. (holotype of V. vernellus, FLAS F20002). MAINE—Cumberland Co. - Freeport, Hedgehog Mtn., 9.viii.2014 Greg Marley s.n. [Tulloss 8-9-14-H] (RET 628-6, nrITS seq'd.). MICHIGAN—Emmet Co. - Bay View, 22.viii.1905 C. H. Kauffman s.n. [G. F. Atkinson 19707] (CUP-A). MISSOURI—Lincoln Co. - Cuivre River St. Pk. [38.03° N/ 90.93° W, 330 m], 28.vi.2014 P. Harvey s.n. [mushroomobserver #168644] (RET 642-6, nrLSU seq'd.). NEW JERSEY—Burlington Co. - ca. Chatsworth, Franklin Parker Preserve, 12.x.2009 John Burghardt, Felipe Wartchow, R. E. Tulloss [Tulloss 10-12-09-F] (RET 450-6); Wharton St. For., 21.vii.1985 Joe Kuczinski s.n. [Tulloss 7-21-85-B] (RET 204-3). Gloucester Co. - Newfield, s.d. J. B. Ellis 930 (FH as “Agaricus (Amanita) crescendus ined.”). Hunterdon Co. - East Amwell, Sourland Mountains, Rileyville Road, 9.vii.2014 Nina Burghardt s.n. [Tulloss 7-9-14-A] (RET 628-4). Middlesex Co. - Jamesburg Twp., Jamesburg Twp. Pk., ca. Helmetta [40°23’07” N/ 74°25’48” W], 21.ix.1986 R. E. Tulloss 9-21-86-B (RET 468-2), 28.ix.1986 D. C. & R. E. Tulloss 9-28-86-A (RET 467-6), 12.ix.1993 M. A. King, S. E. King Tulloss & R. E. Tulloss 9-12-93-C (RET 104-2), -F (RET 104-3). Morris Co. - Mendham, Meadowoods Mun. Pk., 30.vii.1989 D. C. Tulloss s.n. [Tulloss 7-30-89-H] (RET 247-5), Roger Phillips s.n. [Tulloss 7-30-89-P] (RET 247-6). Ocean Co. - Waretown, Hogenbirk prop. [39°47’12” N/ 74°11’50” W], 9.ix.1993 Cornelius Hogenbirk s.n. (RET 104-6). NEW YORK—Franklin Co. - ca. Paul Smith's, Barnum Brook/Boreal Life Tr. [44°26’57” N/ 74°15’52” W, 504 m], 12.viii.2011 Jean Hopkins s.n. [Tulloss 8-12-11-I] (RET 480-1). Oneida Co. - unkn. loc. 28.viii.2010 Eric Smith s.n. [www.mushroomoberver.org #51543] (RET 481-5). Putnam Co. - Franklin D. Roosevelt St. Pk., 31.vii.1992 R. E. Halling 6880 (NY). Sussex Co. (Long Isl.) - ca. Port Jefferson, 26.viii-2.ix.1904 G. F. Atkinson 20302 (CUP-A). Tompkins Co. - Ithaca, Coy Glen, 23.vii.1917 Leva B. Walker (NEB 30569 as “A. phalloides - white form”); Ithaca, Six Mile Crk., ix.1901 C. M. VanHook s.n. [Atkinson 8122] (syntype, CUP-A), 11.viii.1904 C. H. Kauffman s.n. [Atkinson 18504] (proposed lectotype, CUP-A). Warren Co. - Bolton, [Consider Honduran, and Colombian collections.] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
discussion |
(t.b.d.) The above list of collections is likely to be a mixture of collections of five or more probably distinct taxa. Only one of these taxa has plentiful 2-sterigmate basidia on its lamellae—this is the true A. bisporigera. In general, as observed to RET once by Dr. Alexander Smith, the latter species produces basidiomes that are smaller and more gracile than those of other "white destroying angels" of North America. Genetics studies (e.g., by Heather Hallen (pers. comm.), Cai et al. (2014), and unpublished results of contributors to this site) show that at least five, North American taxa have been sometimes treated as A. bisporigera in both field and laboratory identifications in recent years. These taxa can be segregated into four categories: (1) A 2-sterigmate species—A. bisporigeraSporograph comparisons for this group of taxa follow. Note that as this page is corrected, figures that follow will change. The comparisons were first provided 11 September 2014. Additional comparisons of sporographs for white taxa of sect. Phalloideae having a yellow reaction to spot testing with KOH can be found on the technical tabs of the taxon pages for A. exitialis and A. subjunquillea var. alba. Because the results of the following spore measurements imply the spores of A. bisporigera (1) are improbably spherical and (2) do not match more current measurements of spores made using the same (type) materials, the following sets of spore measurements are not included above with the data that generates sporographs representing the present taxon. from type study of A. phalloides var. striatula by Jenkins (1978a): [-/-/1] 7.8 - 10.2 × 7.0 - 10.2 μm, (Q = 1.0 - 1.10; Q' = 1.04), hyaline, thin-walled, amyloid, globose to subglobose; apiculus sublateral, cylindric; contents guttulate; color in deposit not recorded. from type study of A. vernella by Jenkins (1979): [-/-/1] 7.0 - 7.8 (-9.7) × 7.0 - 7.8 (-9.4) μm, (Q = 1.0 - 1.03; Q' = 1.01), hyaline, thin-walled, amyloid, globose; apiculus sublateral, cylindric; contents guttulate; color in deposit not recorded. Tulloss 8-6-11-C is immature. Definitely excluded collections: Collections probably to be excluded: ?? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
citations | —R. E. Tulloss | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
editors | RET | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Information to support the viewer in reading the content of "technical" tabs can be found here.
name | Amanita bisporigera |
bottom links |
[ Keys & Checklists ] [ Chiricahua Mountains & region list ] [ Key for some Amanita species of Belize, Costa Rica, & Honduras ] [ Great Smoky Mtns. N.P. & region list ] [ New Jersey & region list ] [ E. Texas & Gulf Coast list ] |
name | Amanita bisporigera |
bottom links |
[ Keys & Checklists ] [ Chiricahua Mountains & region list ] [ Key for some Amanita species of Belize, Costa Rica, & Honduras ] [ Great Smoky Mtns. N.P. & region list ] [ New Jersey & region list ] [ E. Texas & Gulf Coast list ] |
Each spore data set is intended to comprise a set of measurements from a single specimen made by a single observer; and explanations prepared for this site talk about specimen-observer pairs associated with each data set. Combining more data into a single data set is non-optimal because it obscures observer differences (which may be valuable for instructional purposes, for example) and may obscure instances in which a single collection inadvertently contains a mixture of taxa.