| Amanita xanthogala
Bas "Yellow Milk Lepidella"
Technical description (t.b.d.) BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The following is based on the description of Bas (1969). "The most remarkable feature of A. xanthogala is undoubtedly the presence of an oily, yellow latex given out when the fruit body is damanged." The cap of Amanita xanthogala is 60 - 140 mm wide, hemispherical, then convex to plane, finally plano-concave with a slight umbo, whitish or yellowish to pale fulvo-cinnamomeous, dry, with a nonsulcate, appendiculate margin. The cap is set closely with fulvo- to rufo-cinnamomeous, large, pyramidal, radially fibrillose warts, and small, subconical, subflocculose warts with small, flocculose-felted patches between. The gills are crowded to moderately crowded, free, moderately broad (7 - 17 mm), cream to pale yellow, and deeper yellow towards the edge. The short gills are attenuate. The stem is 100 - 160 x 15 - 25 mm, attenuate upward, solid, annulate at first, exannulate with age, and with a clavate to subclavate base 20 - 35 mm wide. It is yellowish-whitish to whitish or pinkish fawn. It bears a pruinose-furfuraceous covering of volva above. This trends to fawn brown to rufo-cinnamomeus, floccose warts arranged in more or less transverse rows proceeding down the stem. There is no concentration of volval material at the stem's base. The spores measure 8.5 - 10.0 (-10.5) x 5.5 - 7.0 µm and are amyloid and ellipsoid to elongate. Clamps are present at bases of basidia. This species was originally described from material of North Borneo collected by E. J. H. Corner in "mountain oak forest." Any information on what taxa comprise "mountain oak forest" in North Borneo would be greatly appreciated by the editors of these pages. Despite his opposition to creating single species stirpes, Bas based such a stirps on A. xanthogala because of it extraordinary property of exuding yellow "latex." Bas notes that the presence of the lacticiferous hyphae are a major character he used to separate A. xanthogala from stirps Virginea (see A. virginea Massee). Once again (see A. subsolitaria (Murrill) Murrill), I must wonder if A. xanthogala could possibly be based on "diseased" material of a species close to A. virginea. On the other hand, the description of the latex as "oily" does not fit the more watery exudate of the yellowing species of Amanita for which there is good supportive evidence of their being in a "diseased" condition. -- R. E. Tulloss Drawing: Dr. C. Bas (1969) (reproduced by courtesy of Persoonia, Leiden, the Netherlands) Return to Section Lepidella page. Last changed 21 July 2004. |
