Amanita craseoderma

This description is taken from the original description of Bas (1978).

The cap of A. craseoderma is about 60 mm wide, plano-convex with a subumbilicate center, with a broad, sulcate-striate margin. The cap is very dark brownish gray with pale marginal grooves. The volva is present as very few, small dark gray-brown, irregularly shaped, wart-like remnants.

The gills are free, fairly crowded, and very pale grayish. The short gills are very rare and (obliquely?) truncate.

The stem is 110 - 7 mm, subcylindrical, exannulate, fuscidulous gray, and subglabrous to glabrous. The flesh is relatively thin and very fragile. The volva forms one nearly complete, narrow, dark gray-brown, subfloccose belt about 6 mm above the stem base.

The spores measure 7.5 - 9.0 × 7.0 - 8.0 µm, and are subglobose and inamyloid. Clamps are absent at bases of basidia.

The word "craseoderma" means "blended" or "mixed skin." This and the proposed English name for the taxon refer to the diversity of cell forms that appear in caps' skins in A. craseoderma.

Amanita craseoderma was first described from material collected in primary forest (Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil) by Dr. Rolf Singer.

The form of the volva suggests a relationship to such taxa as A. ceciliae (Berk. & Broome) Bas and A. sororcula Tulloss, Ovrebo & Halling. Since the symbionts of these species do not occur naturally in Amazonia, comparison to African taxa such as A. calopus Beeli is also appropriate.—R. E. Tulloss & L. Possiel