Destroying angel

Description

The destroying angel is a slender, entirely white mushroom with a cap 6–12 cm across, ovoid when young, then conical-bell-shaped, often with a boss. It has white, crowded gills, a drooping ring on a scaly stem and a bulbous base set in a sac-like, ragged volva. The volva is sometimes hidden in the leaf litter, so with every white gilled mushroom you must carefully dig out the base of the stem.

In Poland it is rare, most often found in mountain coniferous forests under spruces and pines, less often under beeches. The fruiting bodies appear in late summer and autumn.

The greatest risk is mistaking young fruiting bodies for field mushrooms. The fool's mushroom and the white form of the death cap are also confusing; all three are deadly poisonous. Do not pick white gilled mushrooms if you are not sure of the species, and do not put them in the same basket as edible mushrooms. The poison cannot be removed in the kitchen.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 6–12 cm; ovoid when young, then conical-bell-shaped, finally slightly convex, often with a distinct boss. Surface smooth, dry and silky, sticky in wet weather; the skin can be peeled. Colour white, pale yellow or cream at the top; may turn yellow with age. Sometimes with irregular patches of universal veil remnants, sometimes without them.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills white, crowded, free (not attached to the stem), edges sometimes ragged.

Stem

Height 8–15 cm, thickness 1–2 cm, cylindrical, tapering upwards, becoming slender with age; white, with large fibrous scales. Ring drooping, grooved, may disappear in old specimens. Base bulbous, with a distinct, shaggy, sac-like volva.

Flesh

White, brittle, does not change colour when broken. Smell unpleasant, suffocating (sometimes compared to radish); taste described as mild — it must never be tested; do not taste the flesh of any suspicious mushroom. With NaOH the flesh turns intensely yellow.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores smooth, spherical to almost spherical, amyloid (turn violet with Melzer's reagent), 7–10 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Mycorrhizal fungus (ectomycorrhiza). Partners: spruce, pine, fir, beech, sweet chestnut, also birch. Described mainly from mountain coniferous forests, less often from mixed and deciduous woods; also in bogs.

Distribution. Described from Sweden; known from Europe and northern and eastern Asia (confirmed genetically in China, among other places). Reports of its occurrence in North America actually concern other, similar species (A. bisporigera, A. ocreata, A. amerivirosa). Rare in Poland; on the Red List of Plants and Fungi of Poland (2006) it has status V (vulnerable). Not legally protected. It is also on lists of threatened species in the Netherlands.

Fruiting. Late summer and autumn.

What can it be confused with?

• Amanita verna (fool's mushroom) — Very similar, fruits in spring and summer; has a pure white cap and a smooth stem. In the KOH test A. verna gives a yellow reaction and A. virosa an orange-yellow one. Both species are deadly poisonous.
• Amanita phalloides (death cap), white form — The white, albino form is very similar and also deadly poisonous; telling them apart requires experience and examination of detailed features.
• Agaricus spp. (field mushrooms, especially young ones) — In very young field mushrooms the gills are white, then turn pink and brown (chocolate-coloured in old ones); the destroying angel has white gills throughout, a white spore print and a volva at the base of the stem, which field mushrooms lack. The mistake concerns above all the picking of immature fruiting bodies.
• Volvopluteus gloiocephalus (big sheath mushroom) and other white sheath mushrooms — They have pink gills, no ring and no bulb at the base of the stem; they rarely grow in woods.

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

• The species epithet virosa comes from the Latin word for "poisonous" (the same root as in the word "virus").
• The name "destroying angel" is used in North America for other white amanitas; A. virosa itself does not occur there, and earlier reports concerned A. bisporigera, A. ocreata and A. amerivirosa.
• Amatoxins were isolated in 1941 (Wieland and Hallermayer), phalloidin in 1937 (Lynen and Wieland).
• The reason why this species is responsible for fewer deaths than the death cap is not explained; its rarity may play a part.