Amanita sordidobubalina - Amanitaceae.org - Taxonomy and Morphology of Amanita and Limacella
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name Amanita sordidobubalina
name status nomen acceptum
author A. E. Wood
english name "Dirty-Faced Ringless Amanita"
intro The following is based on the original description by Wood (1997).
cap

The cap of A. sordidobubalina is up to 70 mm wide, mostly golden brown to yellowish buff, sometimes with gray shades [Note: Wood references his colors to three plates in the 1950 color book by Merz and Paul.  To our eyes, the cited colors range from shades of orangish-tan to a sordid tan that has a slightly greenish component.  The darkest color reported by Wood is approximately midway between an olive tone and a saturated orange-brown (Merz and Paul, plate 15 C6).], darker in the center, becoming paler with age, convex then plane, finally slightly upturned, smooth, dry, with a striate margin (1/3 of the radius according to the text; 1/5 of the radius according to the illustration).  Volval remains are absent.

gills

The gills are free, narrow, crowded, white to very pale cream, with a slightly minutely roughened and concolorous edge.  The short gills are present in at least two series.

stem

The stem is up to 180 × 10 mm, equal to slightly bulbous below, white, smooth or sometimes with sparse white fibrils.  No ring is present.  The saccate volva is prominent, persistent, membranous, large, and white.  Wood says that the volva "has a large free margin."  Since the illustration shows the volva proportionately small compared to the stem length, we choose to interpret Wood's words to mean that volval sac is minimally attached to the stem base—attached for only a short distance.

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spores

The spores measure 10.0 - 12.6 (-13.5) × (9.6-) 10.0 - 12.6 µm and are globose to subglobose and inamyloid.  Clamps are absent from bases of basidia.

discussion Wood describes the mushroom as occurring in tall open forests and sclerophyll forests from the state of New South Wales, Australia.  A sclerophyll forest in the Australian bush is a forest of hard-leaved plants including Eucalyptus in the overstory (wikipedia).

Wood compares A. sordidobubalina to A. vaginata sensu A. E. Wood.  Given the limited state of knowledge about these taxa, this strikes us as a reasonable choice.

This is the last Wood species in section Vaginatae that we transcribed for the Amanitaceae Studies site.  It is very clear to us that the Australian taxa reported by Wood contain a treasure trove of morphological and phylogenetic information that has yet to be uncovered.  We expect a revision of Wood's taxa to be highly profitable taxonomic work.—R. E. Tulloss and L. Possiel
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