Tawny Grisette

Description

The tawny grisette is a slender mushroom with a cap 3–10 cm across, light brown to reddish-brown, with a distinctly striate margin. It has white, free gills, a tall, brittle stem without a ring and a loose, sac-like volva at the base, often hidden in the leaf litter.

It grows from summer to late autumn in broadleaf and coniferous forests, from lowlands to mountains, most often under spruces, birches, pines and oaks. It is common in Poland.

Collecting it is not recommended: it is easily confused with poisonous amanitas, including the grisette and other species with a volva. With every amanita, the stem base must be dug up. If you are not sure of the species, do not pick or eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 3–10 cm; at first bell-shaped-conical, later arched with a small umbo, finally flat. Margin distinctly striate; surface bare, smooth, sticky-slimy when moist. Colour light brown, orange-brown, finally reddish-brown. Sometimes with greyish remnants of the veil. The skin can be peeled off the whole cap.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills moderately crowded, broad, free (not attached to the stem), white or light grey.

Stem

Height 8–15 cm, diameter 0.8–1.5 cm (descriptions give different ranges), cylindrical, narrowing upwards, smooth or powdery, without a ring; in older specimens tubular (hollow), brittle; colour from white to ochre-brown. The base is surrounded by a membranous, loose, sac-like volva — attached at the bottom, free at the top, reaching up to 1/4 of the height of the fruiting body, white to ochre-brown, sometimes with rusty-brown spots. The volva is often hidden in the leaf litter — it has to be uncovered when identifying.

Flesh

Watery, whitish to cream, brittle, thin; smell indistinct, taste sweetish. It should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white or cream. Spores spherical, non-amyloid; dimensions: 9–12.5 × 9–12.5 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A mycorrhizal fungus, in symbiosis with oak, birch, spruce, pine, chestnut and alder; on acidic soils. Grows on the ground in broadleaf and coniferous forests, from lowlands to mountains, especially under spruces.

Distribution. North America (doubtful — the name was sometimes wrongly applied to other taxa), Europe, Asia, Africa. Common in Poland. It is not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From summer to late autumn; in Great Britain from May to November.

What can it be confused with?

• Amanita crocea (saffron ringless amanita) — Forms larger fruiting bodies, cap of a vivid orange colour.
• Amanita vaginata (grisette) — Usually in grey shades (there are varieties very similar to the tawny grisette); differs in the volva — detailed differences incomplete.
• Poisonous and deadly poisonous amanitas (e.g. Amanita phalloides, Amanita pantherina) — There is a risk of confusion with poisonous amanitas; the tawny grisette has no ring and has a striate cap margin, but one must not rely on a single feature.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• Formerly it was placed in the genus Amanitopsis because of the absence of a ring; today this feature is considered insufficient.
• The Polish name “czubajka”, used regionally, is misleading, because in nomenclature it refers to the genus Macrolepiota.
• Folk names include czubek, panienka, wyskoczek.
• In North America the name A. fulva was wrongly applied to other taxa (e.g. A. amerifulva).