Amanita russuloides - Amanitaceae.org - Taxonomy and Morphology of Amanita and Limacella
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name Amanita russuloides
name status nomen acceptum
author (Peck) Sacc.
english name "Russula-like Amanita"
intro The following is based on a description by Jenkins included in his type study of A. russuloides (Jenkins 1978a).  At present, RET has probably collected material that could resolve the identity of this species, but has not had time to process it; hence, a modern description of the taxon is lacking.
cap The cap of A. russuloides is approximately 25 mm wide, pale yellow to straw yellow, convex to plano-convex, with a striate margin.  The volva is present as a few widely scattered remnants.
gills The white gills are crowded, free, but connected to the stem by a floccose line.  The short gills are truncate.
stem The stem is approximately 35 × 2 - 5 mm, slightly tapering upward, stuffed, smooth, with a bulbous base.  No ring was present in the material reviewed by Jenkins.  The volva is present as a slight free limb at the top of the bulb and as occasional floccose patches on the lower stem.
odor/taste double click in markup mode to edit.
spores According to Jenkins' type study, the spores measure 8.7 - 10.2 × 6.3 - 7.0 µm and are broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid and inamyloid.
discussion This species was originally described from New York (state), U.S.A.

The above, limited description has made it quite difficult to develop a species concept that is applicable to the present name.  It has also proven difficult (to date) to sort through the yellow taxa of eastern North America with a view to identifying a single, most likely candidate for the name "A. russuloides."  RET is not even sure how many such taxa there are.  Moreover, insufficient time has been spent on this problem.

Of RET's numbered taxa listed in checklists and keys, there are at least three incompletely understood candidates: A. sp-N08, A. sp-N19, and A. sp-S01.  All three of these taxa have spores that are predominantly ellipsoid, with some broadly ellipsoid and some elongate; and, in two, cylindric spores have been observed rarely.  All three have macroscopic descriptions that are reasonable matches for A. russulolides.

Do all the specimens of the three "numbered taxa" correspond to a single species?  The spore data for A. sp-N19 and A. sp-S01 are very similar.  Do one or more of the provisional, numbered species correspond to A. russuloides?  The questions are as yet unanswered.—R. E. Tulloss and L. Possiel
brief editors RET

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