| name | Amanita gayana |
| name status | insufficiently known |
| author | (Mont.) Mont. in Gay |
| english name | "Gay's Death Cap" |
| images |
 1. Amanita gayana, original plate, Chile. |
| intro | This species is known only from its original description which includes the plate illustrated on this page. |
| cap | The cap is less than 54 mm wide, less than 13.5 mm high, bright yellowish red, regularly convex, with a nonstriate margin. |
| gills | The gills are pale yellow, regular, and equal. Short gills not reported. |
| stem | The stem is 54 × 9 mm and sordid white. The bulb is 16 mm wide. The ring is median, white, membranous, and skirt-like. The limbate volva is membranous, white, and enclosing the lower part of the stem above the bulb. The flesh is not described in the original description. |
| odor/taste | Nothing is known of the odor or taste of this mushroom. |
| spores | There is no information on the spores of this mushroom. |
| discussion |
So far as we know no collection of this
species exists. The original description is based on a watercolor by Gay. The absence of a striate margin is specifically noted by the author. That and the bulbous stipe and the limbate, rather than saccate, volva eliminate the possibility of placement in section Vaginatae which the original author also observes. The strongest case for sectional placement is in section Phalloideae and A. gayana does bare some similarity to the recently described species A. aurantiobrunnea
Simmons et al. (2002) from Guyana. The latter differs at least by having white gills, the presence of short gills, a weakly structured ring at the top of the stem, and an orange tint on the outside of the volval limb. Gay's records indicate this species named for him was not eaten in the area of Chile where it was originally collected.—R. E. Tulloss and E. Horak |
| brief editors | RET |
