I found this mushroom on my sister's acreage near Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. It was all by itself. It looks like an amanita, but after a look through my mushroom books, I still couldn't identify what type it is. The thing that threw me off was the fact that it doesn't appear to have a veil or volva...and I thought that was typical of the species. So, basic things to note: tan colour tan/white warts on cap bottom of cap - no warts, and vertical lines form tan stalk with no veil/volva gills are fairly deep and long, tan, and not joined to stalk Spore: couldn't get any spores to show up on a spore print...odd
Looks like Amanita pnatherina, but it would have a veil and volva. THe way it is broken off, it may have had (?) It's too young to have released spores. What kind of tree was it near/under ? I could be wrong, but for now, don't eat it.
Well, I'm not dead :-) But it is very hard not to fry up all these little guys I find. It takes serious self control. They all look tasty! So it definitely does not look like it has a veil; the volva could have been there, but I may have ripped it off. I stupidly didn't bring a knife with me, so I had to just grab low and tear it off. I joined the mycological society here in Edmonton for just such a reason - always nice to have people point out edibles. But I didn't have anyone knowledgeable around me when I was picking...oh well. Such is life
With mushrooms that are similar to amanitas you must DIG THEM OUT. If you don't have the whole thing, you can't be sure. Many of the Amanitas are very appealing. THey smell wonderful and have a good texture. A croatian proverb: "All mushrooms are edible; some only once." .
