Amanita angustispora

The description of this species is based on the account of Reid (1980).

The cap of Amanita angustispora is 18 - 50 mm wide, irregularly convex, then nearly plane or with the center depressed, viscid when moist, appendiculate with subfibrillose material, whitish with a "slightly biscuity-brown tint" in the center, or with a "pale chocolate or grayish-brown tint."

The gills just reach the stem (adnexed or nearly adnate) and are moderately close, not ventricose, 7 mm or more broad, and white with a slight cream tint.

The stem is 50 - 62 × 10 - 12.5 mm, equal, moderately stout to moderately slender, solid, with a bulbous base about 25 × 19 mm and rounded to subradicating below, with a volva that has a distinct free edge.  (See discussion below.)  The upper part of the stem is flocculose and bears lines marking the oposition of the gills edges prior to expansion of the fruiting body.  The lectotype selected by Reid lacks any remnant of an annulus, but other material that Cleland treated as conspecific still has a well-preserved annulus according to Reid.

The spores measure 9 - 13 × 5.5 - 6 µm (Cleland and Gilbert) or 8.8 - 13.2 × (4.5-) 5.0 - 6.6 µm (Reid) and are elongate to cylindric and amyloid.  Clamps are present at the base of some basidia as Reid illustrates.

No fruiting body of this species was illustrated by Cleland or Gilbert.  Gilbert (1940) illustrated spores.  Reid illustrated some microscopic detail.  The illustrations of Reid show a volva structure that is not indicative of a membranous volva.  In fact, one might well expect pyramidal warts in this case.  The persistent reporting that there is a "sheathing," "ample" volva on the species appears to contradict the field notes that Reid reports for the type specimen.

Based on the field notes with the type collection, the appendiculate cap margin, Reid's microscopic drawings, and the rareness of clamps in the species of section Amidella (I am not aware of a named species that has clamped basidia), I propose that this species be treated as a member of section Lepidella for the time being.  Reid (1980) points out that Cleland's original material apparently includes some specimens that are not the same species as the type.  Reid also notes that a later collection he felt was conspecific with the type lacked any sign of a saccate or limbate volva.  See also A. clelandii E.-J. Gilbert.

This species was originally described from the state of South Australia, Australia.  The original specimens were deeply inserted in sandy soil.  No other habitat information is available.—R. E. Tulloss

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.

The history of the present species has several complications beginning with Dr. Cleland's making several collections with more or less narrow spores in the vicinity of Encounter Bay in the state of South Australia.  He published the name A. angustispora in 1927 without designating a type (which was not a requirement of valid publication at the time) and citing three months over two years in which collections had been made; however, specific dates of collection were not given; and, from what can be gleaned from subsequent literature (Gilbert 1940 & 1941, Reid 1980, Grgurinovic 1997), Cleland was not in the habit of assigning collection numbers; therefore, there is no decision about typification that can be made from Cleland's original publication alone.

Cleland sent at least some of his collections (or duplicates derived from them) to Gilbert who noticed that there were at least two taxa involved within Cleland's material labeled "A. angustispora."  Gilbert separated two collections that he thought represented A. angustispora sensu stricto.  One of these was a collection that Cleland had labeled with the name in question; and Gilbert designated this collection as "type."  Our good fortune is that this specimen is represented by some of Gilbert's fine scaled drawsings of spores.  However, Gilbert neglected to give any indentifying information for the collection; and, if any of the "type"-designated material remained with Gilbert, it has been lost with the rest of his herbarium.  Hence, Gilbert's attempt to designate a type failed because we cannot now identify any material to which the designation could belong; and the matter cannot be rectified by obtaining identifying data from Gilbert's herbarium.  We will return to Gilbert's actions with regard to the second taxon he identified in Cleland's "A. angustispora" material on the taxon page for A. clelandii.

Reid (1980) examined material then in ADW (now in AD) from the months and years mentioned by Cleland in the protolog and found that he could identify three collections marked as A. angustispora identified with specific collection dates lying in the months cited in the protolog.  He did not report finding any collection of the present species with annotation in Gilbert's hand (something he does report in the case of other Cleland material) or relating in anyway to Gilbert's designation of a type.  One of the collections located by Reid had both narrow spores and a rather extensive set of annotations regarding the specimen in fresh condition that clearly contained a significant portion of data forming the basis for Cleland's protolog.  Reid designated this collection as lectotype of A. angustispora.  There was a further complication.  The lectotype collection and another collection, although made on two separate days, had been combined into a single herbarium packet with a single accession number.  Each of the collections comprised a single basidiome.  By a careful reading of the two sets of annotations, Reid was able to make a convincing case for which of the two single-specimen collections was the lectotype collection.  He segregated this collection.  Reid provided a rediscription of the present species based solely on the lectotype, its original annotation, and his own anatomical observations.  For the purposes of this taxon page, Reid's redescription is taken as the primary source of information on the present species.

[ Keys & Checklists ]
[ Australia/New Zealand List ]

[ Keys & Checklists ]
[ Australia/New Zealand List ]