Amanita chiricahuana - Amanitaceae.org - Taxonomy and Morphology of Amanita and Limacella
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name Amanita chiricahuana
name status nomen provisorum
author Tulloss
english name "Chiricahua Ringless Amanita"
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  • Amanita chiricahuana, Chiricahua Mtns., Cochise Co., Arizona, U.S.A.Amanita chiricahuana, Chiricahua Mtns., Cochise Co., Arizona, U.S.A.

    1. Amanita chiricahuana, Chiricahua Mtns., Cochise Co., Arizona, U.S.A.

  • Amanita chiricahuana, Chiricahua Mtns., Cochise Co., Arizona, U.S.A.Amanita chiricahuana, Chiricahua Mtns., Cochise Co., Arizona, U.S.A.

    2. Amanita chiricahuana, Chiricahua Mtns., Cochise Co., Arizona, U.S.A.

    • cap The cap of A. chiricahuana is 54 - 120 mm wide, gray with faint brown to olivaceous brown tint to brownish-gray to pale brownish gray, sometimes white just at margin, unchanging when cut or bruised, irregular to subhemispheric at first, finally convex.  The cap's flesh is white to whitish to pale cream except for a grayish region (up to 5 mm thick) under the cap skin in the center or mostly gray with a whitish region above the gills and near the top of the stipe, and unchanging when cut or bruised.  The cap's margin is striate (with striations occupying one-tenth to one-fifth of the cap's radius; occasionally the ridges between the grooves are decorated small fine bumps.  Remnants of the volva may be present as a large patch or patches that are white and occasionally have yellow or yellow-tan splotches and stains or become pale grayish white to brownish gray with age, unchanging when cut or bruised.  Such patches are soft and cottony at first, up to 1.5 mm thick, have a somewhat felt-like surface (10× lens) in age, and can often be easily removed.
    gills The gills are free to narrowly attached, with faint (10× lens) to distinct (and then rather long) attached lines descending the top of the stem.  The gills are crowded, off-white to cream to faintly orangish cream to sordid cream to very pale gray in mass and become more grayish at maturity and in areas damaged by insects.  Forking and reverse forking of gills is rather common in some specimens.  The short gills are truncate to subattenuate, of diverse lengths, infrequent in some sectors, occasionally apparently absent (but then gill forking is more common), often common to plentiful, originating at stipe occasionally, and occasionally attached to neither stipe nor margin.  )ccasionally almost all the short gills are interconnected with adjacent full-sized gills to form a nearly poroid hymenium .
    stem The stem is 44 - 114 × 12.5 - 20 mm, white to very pale grayish white with a powdery to chalky surface, becoming brownish gray to gray when handled or in age, sometimes bearing minutel fibrils on the lower part (and then the fibrils becoming brownish gray when touched or in age), subcylindric or narrowing upward or downward, flaring at the top of the stem or not.  The flesh of the ringless stem is white to off-white, unchanging when cut or bruised.nbsp; There is a saccate volva at the stem base; it is white on both the exterior and interior surfaces, with some ochraceous stains on the exterior of the stem base.  The volva is soft, cottony on the exterior, membranous, sometimes graying in its upper part with age, and attached to the stem base for one-third to one-half of the height of the sack.
    odor/taste Odor is usually lacking or indistinct, but is reported occasionally as "sourish," and can be unpleasant in age.  Taste is lacking.
    spores The spores measure (9.5-) 10.2 - 13.2 (-14.0) × (8.5-) 9.0 - 11.8 (-13.0) µm and are globose to subglobose to broadly ellipsoid and inamyloid.  Clamps are probably not found at the bases of basidia.
    discussion Occurrence with at least four species of Pine (Pinus), Fir (Picea), and Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is reported at altitudes from 2400 to 3200 m. This mushroom is presently known only from one site in Colorado and from several sites in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona, but it may be present in similar habitats in the southwestern states of the U.S. and in similar montane habitat in Mexico.
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