Destroying angel
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{{Taxobox | color = lightblue | name = Destroying angel | status = Conservation status: Secure | image = Avirosa L.jpg | image_width = 250px | regnum = Fungi | divisio = Basidiomycota | classis = Homobasidiomycetae | subclassis = Hymenomycetes | ordo = Agaricales | familia = Amanitaceae | genus = Amanita | species = A. virosa | binomial = Amanita virosa | binomial_authority = Lam. ex Secr. }}
Destroying angel (Amanita virosa, A. bisporigera, A. verna, and A. ocreata) is a deadly toxic mushroom in the genus Amanita, which contains some of the most toxic known mushrooms.
The destroying angel, along with the death cap (Amanita phalloides), are responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths due to mushroom poisoning. The toxin responsible for this is alpha-amanitin. Symptoms do not appear for 6-24 hours, when the toxins may already be absorbed and the damage (destruction of liver and kidney tissue) done. There are no known antidotes to its poison.
Destroying angels are characterized by having a white stalk and gills. The cap can be pure white, or white at the edge and yellowish, pinkish, or tan at the center. It has a partial veil (annulus), or a fleshy ring circling the stalk. Perhaps the most tell-tale of the features is the presence of a volva, or universal veil, so called because it is a membrane that encapsulates the entire mushroom, rather like an egg, when it is very young. This structure then breaks into various pieces when the young mushroom expands, thereby leaving parts that can be found at the base of the stalk as a boot or cuplike structure, and there may be patches of removable material on the cap surface. This combination of features, all found together in the same mushroom, is the hallmark of the family. While other families may have any one or two of these features, none have them all. The cap is usually about 5-12 cm across; the stem is usually 7.5 –20 cm long and about .5-2 cm thick.
Destroying angel grows in woods or near the edges of woods. It can be mistaken for edibles such as the meadow mushroom, the horse mushroom, ma'am on motorcycle, or spring coccorra. Young Amanita specimens look like mature button mushrooms or puffballs. One of the reasons why these mushrooms are so dangerous is because they look so similar to common edible mushrooms. Some identifying characteristics of the Amanita virosa are their white/cream colored gills and spores, gills that are attached to the cap, but not the stalk, at the part of the stalk closest to the ground there is a little cup which is a leftover piece of the veil that covers the mushroom during the button stage of growth, and finally, some Amanitas have a ring or skirt on the stalk which is another remnant of the veil.This further emphasizes the importance of slicing in half all unopened mushrooms picked when mushroom hunting.
Mushroom hunters recommend that people know how to recognize both the death cap and the destroying angel in all of their forms before collecting any white gilled mushroom for consumption.
Image:Destroying Angel 02.jpg {{mycomorphbox | name = Amanita virosa | whichGills = free | capShape = convex | hymeniumType=gills | stipeCharacter=ring | ecologicalType=mycorrhizal | sporePrintColor=white | howEdible=deadly}}
External links
de:Kegelhütiger Knollenblätterpilz fr:Amanite vireuse it:Amanita virosa lt:Smailiakepurė musmirė ja:ドクツルタケ pl:Muchomor jadowity ru:Бледная поганка fi:Valkokärpässieni sv:Vit flugsvamp tr:Amanita virosa uk:Мухомор білий смердючий