| Ochre-gilled barefoot lepidella | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Amanita ochrophylla, Georges River National Park | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Amanitaceae |
| Genus: | Amanita |
| Species: | A. ochrophylla |
| Binomial name | |
| Amanita ochrophylla | |
| Synonyms | |
Agaricus ochrophyllus Cooke & Massee | |
Amanita ochrophylla is afungus of the familyAmanitaceae native to southeastern Australia. Its large and distinctive buff fruit bodies are common after rainfall.
English mycologistsMordecai Cubitt Cooke andGeorge Edward Massee described this species asAgaricus ochrophyllus in 1889, from a specimen collected from "sandy land near Brisbane". They thought it allied toMacrolepiota procera and placed it in the subgenusLepiota. They described its gills as having the colour of "washed leather".[1]Pier Andrea Saccardo named itLepiota ochrophylla in 1891. It was placed in the genusAmanita by Australian mycologistJohn Burton Cleland in 1924.[2] Within the genusAmanita, it is in the subgenusLepidella, sectionLepidella and subsectionGymnopodae.[2] Molecular analysis showed a close relationship withA. proxima.[3]
The fruit body is a large stocky buff- or ochre-coloured mushroom sometimes with shades of orange or pink on the stalk or cap. The cap is convex and rounded when young and opening out and flattening to flat-convex or flat.[2] Reaching up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) in diameter,[4] the cap is often covered with small thin flat scales that are slightly paler than the cap colour.[2] The thin crowded gills are free, and cream or buff, becoming darker as the mushroom ages.[5] Thespore print is white. The thick stalk has a double ring which helps identify it.[2] The main upper ring is attached high up on the stalk just underneath the gills.[6] It is membranous and can break off. The second ring is smaller and thicker. The solid stalk is up to 15 cm (6 in) high and 2 cm (3⁄4 in) wide. The large bulbous base is shaped like an inverted cone,[2] and up to 4 cm in diameter.[4]
Under a microscope, the spores are oval-shaped and measure 9.3–10.8 by 5.4–7.4 μm.[2]
The mushrooms have a stale odour, reminiscent of ants.[6]
Found across the southeastern part of the continent,[4]A. ochrophylla has been recorded from southeastern South Australia,[5] Victoria, throughout New South Wales and Queensland.
Forestry records from Tasmania have it recorded predominantly from wet forests.[7] It has been recorded from Mount Wellington.[8]
The fruit bodies appear after heavy rainfall.[5]
It often appears on roadsides.[6]
A field study showed thatA. ochrophylla fruit bodies of identical genetic profile were found up covering areas of up 60 m (200 ft) diameter, suggesting a single genet was responsible, and that hence these units could be up to 60 m (200 ft) diameter in undisturbed eucalypt forest.[9]
Its smell would usually preclude people trying to consume it, and its edibility is unknown. AtWedderburn south of Sydney, a Lao family picked and consumed this species, perhaps along withA. volvarielloides. One member suffered poisoning with hepatotoxic effects similar to those of deadly amanitas, withA. volvarielloides perhaps being the culprit.[10]
