Death Cap or Destroying Angel?
In any case, we came home Tuesday evening and I spotted a broad, white cap that had emerged from the lawn. It was the largest free-standing fungus I've seen around the house. Its white stem and slightly pointed cap made me think it was also quite poisonous. So I wanted to analyze it a bit more.



The mushroom had a shiny, slick texture; a dingy yellow coloration on the cap, which was four inches wide; tightly packed gills that ascended toward the stem (those would be "free" then, yes?); and a bit of a fishy odor. It was that list detail, the smell -- along with a split in the cap -- that led me to consider it to be Inocybe fastigiata. But I see that that mushroom only grows to three inches. This specimen was five inches tall, and I obviously didn't find it in the forest locale that's typical of the Inocybe.
So back to the Death Cap, Amanita phalloides. This mushroom had most of the typical features for that variety -- one of the most lethal mushrooms known -- except for remnants of the volval cup at the base. There was also no tissue ring around the stem. Even though this mushroom had a light yellow tinge to it, I knew that rain (which we'd had the previous two days) could cause this otherwise green or olive-yellow mushroom to lose its color. I suppose, then, that this coloration issue would rule out the Destroying Angel, Amanita bisporigera, which is always white.
Anyone have a more definitive ID?














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