Amanita calyptroderma
An edible Pacific amanita with a sacklike volva.
Amanita calyptroderma, known as coccora, coccoli, or the Pacific amanita, is a white-spored mushroom that fruits naturally in the Sierra Nevada and coastal forests of the western United States during fall, winter, and spring.
Quick Facts
- Species
- calyptroderma
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- In the southern part of its range (Central California northwards to Washington), it forms mycorrhizae with madrone (Arbutus menziesii).
- In the northern part of its range (Washington to southern Canada), its preferred host is Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).
Description
The cap is 10–25 cm in diameter, typically orange-brown but occasionally white, and partially covered by a thick white patch of universal veil. The gills are white and close. The cream-colored stalk, 10–20 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, bears a partial veil and is partially hollow, filled with a stringy white pith. A large, sacklike volva sits at the stalk base. The white spores are inamyloid, not changing color in Melzer's reagent. This combination of features, along with a skirt-like annulus and absence of a basal bulb, places the species in section Caesareae. The deadly poisonous Amanita phalloides resembles it. Amanita vernicoccora, a closely related edible species, fruits from late winter to spring in hilly or mountainous areas and has a yellow cap; Amanita caesarea is also related and edible.
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