Amanita muscaria var. guessowii
| Amanita muscaria var. guessowii | |
|---|---|
| |
| A mature specimen under a northern white pine tree in Michigan, U.S. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Amanitaceae |
| Genus: | Amanita |
| Species: | |
| Variety: | A. c. var. yellow-orange
|
| Trinomial name | |
| Amanita chrysoblema var. yellow-orange Veselý
| |
Amanita chrysoblema yellow-orange variant | |
|---|---|
 | Gills on hymenium |
 | Cap is flat or convex |
 | Hymenium is free |
 | Stipe has a ring and volva |
 | Spore print is white |
 | Ecology is mycorrhizal |
 | Edibility is poisonous or psychoactive |
Amanita muscaria var. guessowii, commonly known as the American yellow fly agaric, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus Amanita. It is one of several varieties of the poisonous and psychoactive A. muscaria (fly agaric).
Description
[edit]Cap
[edit]The cap is 6–18 centimetres (2+1⁄4–7 in) wide, globose then convex, flattening in age.[1] It is bright yellow or yellow-orange, usually more orange or reddish orange towards the center, and fading to pale yellow.[1] The volva is distributed over the cap as cream to pale tan warts; it is otherwise smooth and sticky when wet. The margin becomes slightly striate in age. The mild-smelling flesh[1] is white and it does not stain when cut or injured.
Gills
[edit]The gills are free to narrowly adnate, subcrowded to crowded, cream to pale cream, truncate, unevenly distributed, of diverse lengths, and plentiful.
Spores
[edit]American yellow fly agaric spores are white in deposit, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid (infrequently subglobose or elongate) and inamyloid. The spores are (7.0) 8.7–12.2 (14.8) x (5.9) 6.5–8.2 (9.5) μm. The spore print is white.[1]
Stipe
[edit]The stipe is 7–16 cm long and 1–3 cm thick,[1] more or less equal or narrowing upwards and slightly flaring at the apex. It is white to yellowish cream, densely stuffed with a pith, the skirt-like ring is membranous, persistent, the lower stipe and upper bulb are decorated with tufts of volval material[1] that are bright pale yellow to cream or sordid cream.
Microscopic features
[edit]Clamps are present at bases of the basidia.
Distribution and habitat
[edit]American yellow fly agaric is found growing solitary or gregariously, it is mycorrhizal with conifers mostly but also deciduous trees as well, it is found often in the fall but sometimes in the spring, common in the northeast, from eastern Canada to North Carolina, northwest Florida, and west to Michigan.[2]
Toxicity
[edit]Amanita muscaria is in general poisonous, and historically was considered deadly, although possibly in error.[3] Unless consumed to the same deadly extent applying to any poisonous mushroom, it will probably only produce nausea and/or vomiting,[4] but medical treatment may be required.[5] It contains the toxins ibotenic acid and muscimol and likely others.[4]
Psychoactivity
[edit]Ibotenic acid and muscimol are both psychoactive constituents which can cause effects such as hallucinations, synaesthesia, euphoria, dysphoria and retrograde amnesia. The effects of muscimol and ibotenic acid most closely resemble that of any GABAergic compound but with a dissociative effect taking place in low to mid doses which are followed by delirium and vivid hallucinations at high doses.
Ibotenic acid is mostly broken down into the body to muscimol, but what remains of the ibotenic acid is believed[6] to cause the majority of dysphoric effects of consuming A. muscaria mushrooms. Ibotenic acid is also a scientifically important neurotoxin used in lab research as a brain-lesioning agent in mice.[7][8]
As with other wild-growing mushrooms, the ratio of ibotenic acid to muscimol depends on countless external factors such as season, age, and habitat. Percentages vary between specimens.[citation needed]
Gallery
[edit]-
Lone specimen -
Yellow group -
Orange group
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Audubon (2023). Mushrooms of North America. Knopf. p. 535. ISBN 978-0-593-31998-7.
- ^ "Shroomery - Hunting Fly Agarics in North America".
- ^ "Mushroom poisoning syndromes". North American Mycological Association (NAMA) website. NAMA. Archived from the original on 4 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
- ^ a b Arora, David (1986) [1979]. Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. p. 894. ISBN 978-0-89815-170-1.
- ^ Tupalska-Wilczyńska, Krystyna; Ignatowicz, Roman; Poziemski, Andrzej; Wójcik, Halina; Wilczyński, Grzegorz (1996). "Zatrucia muchomorami plamistym i czerwonym—patogeneza, objawy, leczenie" [Poisoning with spotted and red mushrooms—pathogenesis, symptoms, treatment]. Wiadomosci Lekarskie (in Polish). 49 (1–6): 66–71. PMID 9173659.
- ^ Stebelska, Katarzyna (2013). "Fungal Hallucinogens Psilocin, Ibotenic Acid, and Muscimol". Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. 35 (4): 420–442. doi:10.1097/FTD.0b013e31828741a5. PMID 23851905. S2CID 44494685. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
- ^ Becker, A; Grecksch, G; Bernstein, HG; Höllt, V; Bogerts, B (1999). "Social behaviour in rats lesioned with ibotenic acid in the hippocampus: quantitative and qualitative analysis". Psychopharmacology. 144 (4): 333–8. doi:10.1007/s002130051015. PMID 10435405. S2CID 25172395.
- ^ Isacson, O; Brundin, P; Kelly, PA; Gage, FH; Björklund, A (1984). "Functional neuronal replacement by grafted striatal neurones in the ibotenic acid-lesioned rat striatum". Nature. 311 (5985): 458–60. Bibcode:1984Natur.311..458I. doi:10.1038/311458a0. PMID 6482962. S2CID 4342937.