Amanita xanthocephala

Taxobox

---

image_width = 220px
image_caption = "Amanita xanthocephala",
Sylvan Grove Native Gardens, Picnic Point, Sydney
name = Vermilion grisette
regnum = Fungi
divisio = Basidiomycota
classis = Agaricomycetes
ordo = Agaricales
familia = Amanitaceae
genus = "Amanita"
species = "A. xanthocephala"
binomial = "Amanita xanthocephala"
binomial_authority = (Berk.) D.A. Reid & R.N. Hilton (1980)

The vermilion grisette, also known as pretty grisette or vermilion "Amanita" ("Amanita xanthocephala") is a colourful mushroom of the genus "Amanita". It is important to note, however, that although it is often referred to by the common name "grisette", it is not closely related to other edible species that carry this common name, such as "Amanita vaginata" and "Amanita fulva". It belongs to the same group of "Amanita" as "A. muscaria" and is reported to be toxic.

It derives its specific epithet "xanthocephala" from the Greek "xanthos"/ξανθοѕ "yellow" and "kephale"/κεφαλη "head".cite book | author = Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott | year = 1980 | title = A Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged Edition) | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = United Kingdom | isbn =0-19-910207-4]

It is a ringless mushroom with a yellowish- to reddish-orange cap up to 3-5 cm (1-2 in) in diameter, with deeper colour toward the centre, and paler similar-coloured warts. The gills and slim ringless stipe are pale yellow or white. The white volva has a neat outturned lip and is often bordered with orange or yellow.cite book |title=Fungi Down Under:the Fungimap Guide to Australian Fungi|author=Grey P|year=2005|pages=p. 21|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens |location=Melbourne |isbn=0-646-44674-6]

"Amanita xanthocephala" lives in an ectomycorrhizal relationship with "Eucalyptus". It is found in eucalypt forests in the southwest of Western Australia, as well as southeastern Australia from near Adelaide around to Southeast Queensland.

At one stage this fungus was known as "Amanitopsis pulchella", a small genus that all grisettes (ringless "Amanita" species) were placed in. However, this genus has been later sunk back into "Amanita". Unlike most ringless "Amanita", which are part of "Amanita" section "Vaginatae" ("A. vaginata" and allies), "A. xanthcephala" belongs to "Amanita" section "Amanita" ("A. muscaria" and allies). [http://pluto.njcc.com/~ret/amanita/species/fulva.html]

There is one report of a person being quite ill after tasting a small piece of it in 1997 [cite journal | quotes=no |last=Ducker |first=S. |year=1997 |title=Toadstool causes broken bone |journal=Australian Mycological Newsletter |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=39 |issn=1322-1396 |url=http://bugs.bio.usyd.edu.au/AustMycolSoc/Journal/1997/ISS16(2)_June97.pdf |format=PDF] .

References

External links

* [http://fungimap.rbg.vic.gov.au/fsp/sp002.html Fungimap reference "Amanita xanthocephala"]
* [http://pluto.njcc.com/~ret/amanita/species/xanthosh.html "Amanita xanthocephala"]