The Blusher

Amanita rubescens

Coniferous, less often deciduous forests, parks. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies large. Cap grows up to 15 cm across, the fleshiest of all Amanitas, matt, dark or pale brown, ochre-pinkish-brown, concentrically covered with grey, greyish-brownish warts, as if scabby. Gills white, when old pinkish, spotted pinkish-brown. Stem 5-16x1-4 cm, greyish-brown, with a white ring, bulbously thickened at the base, without a volva or with only fragments of it. Flesh white, thick, soft, turning red when cut, without a particular smell. Characteristic features: stem without a volva, only with its ragged remnants. Cap and stem turn pinkish when broken. Grows singly or in small groups. Very common. The Germans write that it is a tasty mushroom.