| Amanita floridana (Murrill)
Dav. T. Jenkins ex Tulloss comb. prov. "Florida Ringless Amanita"
Technical description (t.b.d.) BRIEF DESCRIPTION: As of this writing (July, 2004), the above combination for this name will be validated in the near future in Mycotaxon. The cap of A. floridana is roughly 50 mm wide, planar, dull, slightly viscid when wet, with a closely striate margin (40% of the radius). The cap is avellaneous with a blackish center. The flesh is white, very thin, and unchanging when cut or bruised. The volva is absent. The gills are free, inserted, crowded, milk white, unchanging when cut or bruised, and ventricose. The short gills are abruptly truncate. The stem is 40 x 5 - 15 mm, white, markedly narrowing upward, smooth, glabrous, and exannulate. The broadly saccate volva is only attached at the very base of the stem, and is tough, membranous, ample, dirty white on exterior, and white on interior. The spores measure (11.8-) 12.0 - 15.5 (-17.0) x (5.8-) 6.5 - 8.5 (-10.5) µm and are elongate to cylindric (occasionally ellipsoid) and inamyloid. Clamps are occasional at the bases of basidia. Amanita floridana was described from Florida (USA). It is unusual in sect. Vaginatae for its extremely narrow spores. However, this is not a sufficient reason to determine a very narrow-spored member of the section as A. floridana. There are a number of other such taxa (mostly undescribed) in the subtropics of the Americas and in African tropical uplands. As far as is known to Tulloss, this species has not been reported since its original description. New collections are of considerable potential interest. Tulloss is very interested in well-annotated, well-dried material of any species of sect. Vaginatae with elongate to cylindric spores. -- R. E. Tulloss & L. Possiel. Return to Section Vaginatae page. Last changed 1 July 2004. |