Amanita persicina


Amanita persicina, commonly known as the peach-colored fly agaric, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus Amanita. This fungi was previously believed to be an Amanita muscaria variant, but research has recently shown that Amanita persicina is not a fly agaric, but its own distinct species.
Amanita persicina is distinguished by its peach-colored center and its eastern North American distribution.

Controversy

Amanita persicina was formerly believed to be a subspecies of Amanita muscaria, commonly known as fly agaric, and it was classified as A. muscaria var. persicina. Recent DNA evidence, however, has shown Amanita persicina to be a distinct species, and it was elevated to species status in 2015 by Tulloss & Geml.

Description

Amanita persicina has a pleasant taste and odor. It is both psychoactive and poisonous if not properly prepared by parboiling. It should not be eaten without further research.

Cap

The cap is 4–13 cm wide, hemispheric to convex when young, becoming plano-convex to plano-depressed in age. It is pinkish-melon-colored to peach-orange, sometimes pastel red towards the disc. The cap is slightly. The volva is distributed over the cap as thin pale yellowish to pale tannish warts; it is otherwise smooth and, and the margin becomes slightly to moderately striate in age. The flesh is white and does not stain when cut or injured.

Gills

The gills are free, crowded, moderately broad, creamy with a pale pinkish tint, and have a very floccose edge. They are abruptly truncate.

Spores

Amanita persicina spores are white in deposit, ellipsoid to elongate, infrequently broadly ellipsoid, rarely cylindric,, and are 9.4–12.7 x 6.5–8.5 µm.

Stipe

The stipe is 4–10.5 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, and more or less equal or narrowing upwards and slightly flaring at the apex. It is pale yellow in the superior region, tannish white below, and densely stuffed with a pith; the ring is fragile, white above and yellowish below, and poorly formed or absent. Remnants of the universal veil on the vasal bulb as concentric rings are fragile or absent.

Distribution and habitat

Amanita persicina is found growing solitary or gregariously, it is mycorrhizal with conifers and deciduous trees in North America. It often fruits in the fall, but sometimes in the spring and summer in the southern states. The fungi is common in the southeast United States, from Texas to Georgia, and north to New Jersey.

Biochemistry

This species contains variable amounts of the neurotoxic compounds ibotenic acid and muscimol.

Gallery