| Amanita robusta Beeli "African False Caesar" non Amanita robusta Bouriquet nom. ival. :: Technical description (t.b.d.) BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The following description is based on Beeli (1935). The cap of Amanita robusta is 120 mm wide, globose then expanded-convex, glabrous, viscid then dry, brick red, center becoming dark violacious red, with a lightly striate margin. The flesh is firm and white. The volva is absent. The gills are free, yellowish, and pointed at both ends. Its stem is 130 × 10 - 25 mm, fibrillose, cylindric, and stuffed. The ring is fibrillose and ephemeral, leaving some cob-web like debris on the edges of the gills. The volva is ample, membranous, saccate, thick, brownish ochraceous on the exterior, violacious on the interior. The flesh is firm and white. The odor is sweet. The spores measure 7 - 8 × 5 - 6 µm and are broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid and inamyloid. Gilbert (1940) provides spore drawings which measure 8.7 - 9.6 (-10.4) × 6.5 - 7.3 (-8.8) µm and are ellipsoid. The present species was originally described from the Republic of Congo from a forest of Gilbertiodendron. Beeli notes that the species somewhat suggests Amantia caesarea (Scop.:Fr.) Pers.. Indeed it is the case that because of its robust stature, pigments of the cap, short marginal striations of the cap, robust volval sac, and the yellow gills, the similarity is rather strong. Experience has shown that an imperfectly formed ring can appear in taxa of section Vaginatae that appear to be remote from A. caesarea (for example, A. islandica Melot and A. lactea Malenç., Romagn. & D. A. Reid). Well-dried contemporary collections with good notes on the fresh fruiting body and a photograph are very much needed. Rammeloo and Walleyn (1993) reported the method of preparation of a mushroom close to A. robusta. First it is blanched in boiling water which turns yellow. It is blanched when the the caps are closed then the caps may be pealed and are cut into pieces and sautéed in oil with sliced onions, salt, and chilies. The taste of a boiled fungus is described as strongly fishy and "green." When sautéed the flavor is described as "strong" and "leaves a bitter taste in the mouth." -- R. E. Tulloss Return to Section Vaginatae page. Last changed 5 August 2005. |