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[ Keys & Checklist/Picturebooks ] "Gray Amidella"
Technical description (t.b.d.) BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The following description is based in part on Reid (1980). The cap of Amanita grisea is 30 - 50 mm wide, smooth, dull or shining, ash-gray to pale gray-brown, with an incurved margin. The gills are bold, white, ventricose, and adnexed. The stem is 40 - 50 x 10 mm, solid, denser than the cap, and white to pale gray. The annulus suggests a spider's web and eventually disappears. The volva is saccate and gray-brown. The spores measure 9.8 - 14.5 x 6.2 - 8.5 (-9.0) µm and are ellipsoid to elongate and strongly amyloid. Clamps are absent at base of basidia. [Note: My measurement of spores in Kew in 1988 found that many were damaged. Measurements from my best section were as follows (8.7-) 9.6 - 12.5 (-14.2) × (7.0-) 7.4 - 9.8 (-10.5) µm. The spores located were broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid. Since my measurements of length are similar to those of Reid, it is possible that the difference in width measurements could be attributed to further decay of the specimen or to Reid's greater success in inflating the old spores.] Originally described from Tasmania. I have seen the original watercolor of this species at Kew Botanical Gardens and had the distinct impression that the taxon should be assigned to Amanita section Amidella. Among other reasons were that a cross-section in the drawing shows a totally elongating (bulb-less) stem. There is no question that the volva is saccate and not limbate. -- R. E. Tulloss
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