Amanita virosa

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Destroying Angel
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi Division: Basidiomycota Class: Agaricomycetes Subclass: Hymenomycetes Order: Agaricales Family: Amanitaceae Genus: Amanita Species: A. virosa
Binomial name
Amanita virosa

Classification and naming

Amanita virosa or the European destroying angel is one of a group of deadly pure white mushroom species known as a group as the destroying angels or the death angels. Amanita virosa is one of the most poisonous of all known toadstools. It belongs to the fungi kingdom; a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita.

Amanita virosa was first collected and described by Elias Magnus Fries a Swedish mycologist and botanist.

Description

Amanita virosa is pure white in appearance with gills which are usually not attached to the stalk. The cap of the Destroying Angel is 2¼ to 6 inches wide. In young specimens, a white, membranous partial veil tissue extends from the edge of the cap to the upper stalk, covering the gills and later remaining attached to and draping from the upper stalk. The stalk is white and up to 8 inches long or tall, with a small, rounded bulb at the base; the bulb is enclosed by a sac-like volva. The base of the stalk and the volva are often buried in the soil. All parts of the Destroying Angel are white and turn bright yellow with the use of potassium hydroxide (KOH).

Young specimens of A. virosa are sometimes mistaken for puffballs or other non poisonous mushrooms and are picked and eaten.

Distribution and habitat

A. virosa is found in late summer and autumn under broad leaved trees in mixed woodland, especially in association with beech, on mossy ground. All Amanita species form symbiotic relationships with the roots of certain trees.