Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria var. guessowii)

October 15^th – 24th, 2014. This group of mushrooms were growing on the shoulder of the road in clay soil. There were three major elements to the arc so I followed each of them until they peaked and started to decay.

These mushrooms were growing in a shady area. Patches of sun would ‘hit’ the mushrooms occasionally but, mostly, they stayed in the shade which made photographing them somewhat challenging.

The arc…

The first element was closest to the road…

October 15^th. They were just buds. We had 3 inches of rain the night before I found them and some of the volva had washed off the cap.

October 17^th

October 18^th

October 19^th

October 20^th

October 24^th

The second element was a single mushroom - although a second mushroom emerged - that wasn’t crowded by adjacent mushrooms.

October 15^th

October 17^th

October 18^th

October 19^th

October 20^th
 

October 24^th

The third element of the arc was a cluster of mushrooms furthest from the road. Although this element had the largest number of mushrooms, they weren’t closely crowded.

October 15^th

October 17^th

October 18^th

October 20^th

October 24^th

Based on descriptions, I identified these as either Amanita muscaria var. guessowii or var. persicina. According to Michael Kuo, the guessowii variant has shaggy ‘zones’ of universal veil material. These zones appear to be present on these mushrooms and I decided that these were probably Amanita muscaria var. guessowii. 

Identificaiton resources:

Mushroom Expert: 

- Amanita muscaria var. guessowii

- Amanita muscaria var. persicina