Death Cap

Amanita phalloides

Forests, parks, favours the vicinity of oak and birch. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies large. Cap 6–12 (15) cm across, enclosed in a white veil when young, later flattened, usually with adhering bits of the white veil. Gills white, crowded, broad. Stem 5-15x1-2.5 cm, white, greyish, often with a yellowish-greenish tinge and with transverse oblique greenish bands, a white ring, and at the base a large, white, loose volva whose edge sometimes protrudes above the ground. Flesh white, thick, mild-tasting, with an unpleasant smell of rotting potatoes. Characteristic features: cap green, spores amyloid. Grows singly or in groups, more common in deciduous forests. A deadly poisonous fungus in which 16 poisonous substances have been identified.