Cap
|
5 - 10 cm diameter; yellow-orange with an
apricot tinge at the centre. Initially egg-shaped, the cap expands
to become convex or even flat but usually with a small raised
central area (an umbo). In older specimens the cap sometimes turns up at
the edge, which is striated (with comb-like radial ridges). |
Gills
|
Cream, crowded, free or sometimes adnexed. |
Stipe
|
10 - 15 cm long and 1 - 1.5 cm
in diameter, tapering (narrower at the top); white with zig-zag
patterning in a paler shade of the cap colour. There is no ring, but at
the base of the stipe there is a large white sack-like volva. |
Spore print
|
White. |
Odour/taste
|
Sweet-smelling and with a mildly nutty sweet
taste. |
Habitat
|
Mycorhizal with hardwood trees, particularly
birch and beech in clearings. |
Season
|
July to October. |
Occurrence
|
Infrequent. |
Similar species
|
- Amanita caesarea (Caesar's Mushroom) is rarely if ever
found in southern Europe; its cap is brilliant orange with a
striated margin, and the stipe is yellow.
- Amanita fulva has a tawny-orange cap and white gills; it
has no distinctive smell or taste
|
