Amanita battarrae

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name	Amanita battarrae
name status	nomen acceptum
author	(Boud.) Bon
english name	"Gray-Zoned Ringless Amanita"
images	1. Amanita battarrae, title page illustration of Battarra's Fungorum Agri... (1755). [photocopy] 2. Amanita battarrae, description from Battarra's Fungorum Agri... (1755). [photocopy] 3. Amanita battarrae, the lectotype—plate V, figure C, from Battarra's Fungorum Agri... (1755). [photocopy]
intro	The following text is based primarily on the Latin description of Battarra's (non-Linnean) Pseudofarinaceus Speciosior and the accompanying figure. These were included by reference in Boudier's original description of this taxon. Battarra's text reads: "Substantia cum Superiori congruit. Pedunculus elaboratum cylindrum aemulatur, cuticola vilosa obducitur. Pileolus planus & rotundus, superne cinereus, duas zonas concentricas in gyrem havens intensioris cinerei, quae Iridis, seu Halonis speciem praeseferunt, laevis, sublucidus, & viscidus, superne est. Reliquum autem fungi candidum est. Hic quoque internum pulvere quodam veluti farina pileolum habet respersum. Fungus qui ad [fig.] D. prostat idem cum paraecedenti; est enim varietas, eo quod arido loco natus, ut saepe observavi. Autumno cum superiori invenitur." The first sentence refers the reader to the "substance" of the previous description, which includes a description of the mushroom erupting from a volval sack and repeats such overall characteristics as the white, crowded gills, and the general form of the slender stem. The next to last sentence relates to an illustration of another fungus, which is not recognizable to the editors, and is omitted from our concept of A. battarrae.
cap	The cap is ashen gray (cinereus) , planar [at maturity], smooth, viscid, subshiny, and bears two circular zones that are of a more saturated gray than the surrounding surface. The margin of the cap is striate. From Battarra's figure, we can conclude that volval remnants are at least sometimes absent from the cap. On the other hand, Battarra says that the cap sometimes has the appearance of being powdery or of having been sprinkled with flour. In sect. Vaginatae a "frosty" appearance often indicates that the volva has left some of its surface elements (hyphae and broken cells) attached to the cap's skin. From experience with other amanitas of section Vaginatae having zonate caps, it is likely the distribution of pigment in zones is variable in this species; for example, the center of the cap is very likely to be in a dark zone in some specimens and in a light zone in others. For the same reason, the number of light zones and dark zones may vary from one specimen to another.
gills	The gills are white and crowded.
stem	The ringless stem is said to be white, long and not too wide (hence, slender), subcylindric (illustrated as narrowing upward), fleshy, and stuffed. The stipe is decorated with fibrils that are shown as producing a typical sect. Vaginatae zebrature or "snakeskin" or "flame" pattern on the stem. The volval remnant at the base of the stem is in the form of a sac. It seems wise to assume that the representation of the volva is not completely accurate in terms of shape and proportion in Battarra's plate.
odor/taste	Odor and taste are not mentioned by Battara.
spores	Spores are not included in Battarra's descriptions.
discussion	This species was described from Italy and is said to be found mostly in autumn. Recently, Neville, Poumarat, & Redeuilh (2009) have made a clear argument separating this taxon from their concept of A. umbrinolutea. Their concepts of both the fungi might be questioned, but their effort clearly segregates A. battarrae and points back to Battarra's description as the primary source from which a modern concept of A. battarrae should be developed. The confusion of the present species with the distinctly differently colored A. umbrinolutea can be traced back to the original description of Boudier. The very brief description adds only two elements to Battarra's description: 1. Boudier states that the species was found by him in montane regions (the Vosges and the Jura). 2. Boudier changes Battarra's description of the cap color to grayish fauve. In other words, Boudier himself introduces the confusion between the species of Battarra and the umber-zoned umbrinolutea. Neville et al. have done us a favor by designating a lectotype (figure) that is accompanied by a description of the colors of the mushroom depicted. RET has seen illustrations that matched Battarra's color information. Hence, he suggests that it is from such collections that a modern concept of A. battarrae should be developed. The next issue that arises is interpretation of the word cinereus. W. T. Stearn, the author of the important Botanical Latin (1992), emphasizes that lack of precise usage of color terms in ancient times. Stearn suggests that the term cinereus presently be used to mean a pure gray—a mixture of pure white and pure black in some proportion (p. 237). This is supported (in part) by the famous table of Latin color terms superimposed on the grid of Ridgway's color system (pp. 234-235) because that table covers only those colors that are not combinations only of white and black and does not include the word cinereus. In terms of usage in the last 100 years, at least two distinct interpretations of "ash gray" are provided by well-known color charts: Maerz and Paul (1930) interpret "ash gray" as a very pale blue; Ridgway (1912), as a pale grayish blue; Séguy (1936) as a slightly yellowish gray; and Kornerup and Wanscher (1978) as a pale grayish yellow. While we will never know exactly what Battarra meant by cinereus, it is safe to say, he did not intend to describe a distinctly bluish species of Amanita. We are then left with a range of potential interpretations from the most literal (i.e., based on common experience with wood ash)—a mixture of pure white and pure black—to such a color with more or less pale tints of yellow ranging from colors with gray-dominance to colors with slight yellow-dominance. It should be noted in this regard that grayish yellows are often interpretted by the human eye as "olivaceous." It is not uncommon to find illustrations of zonate specimens of sect. Vaginatae where the darkest zones appear to be (for example) "olivaceous gray": Traverso's "battarrae" (1999: 56) and Dähncke's "umbrinolutea" (1993: 462). Since in A. umbrinolutea umbrino- is interpreted as a deep shade of orange-brown [see Stearn (1992: 234, 239)] or red-brown, such images cannot be depictions of A. umbrinolutea&;mdash;unless the color of that species is very much more variable than is currently understood (a possibility that cannot be entirely discounted because of current lack of knowledge). [Note: At this point it is important to remember that we are trying to fix provisional applications of poorly understood names. If, given substantial species concepts, we later learn that the concepts cannot stand, that will be progress as significant as finding strong support for the segregation of two more species from the European "zonate complex" in section Vaginatae.] The editors suggest that now the search should be on for zonate, European taxa with distinctive colors or color combinations on their pilei. Attention should be paid to color changes that occur with direct exposure to sun or to heavy rain. Color changes that occur with age, lacking the other two conditions, should also be carefully recorded. Photographs are not enough. The material must be thoroughly annotated, photographed, and dried as quickly as possible to preserved the internal anatomy, etc. Then we can begin to learn about the fungus or group of fungi that, for the moment, has become so confused. RET appreciates Andreas Gminder's correspondence with him concerning this species.—R. E. Tulloss
brief editors	RET

name

Amanita battarrae

author

("battarae") (Boud.) Bon 1985. Doc. Mycol. 16(61): 16.

name status

nomen acceptum

english name

"Gray-Zoned Ringless Amanita"

synonyms

≡Pseudofarinaceus Speciosor. Battarra nom. inval. 1755. Fungi Agri Arimin. Hist.: 29, pl. 5 (fig. C). [Non-binomial name. ICBN §23.1]

non Leucomyces speciosor Battarra nom. inval.

≡Amanitopsis battarrae ("Battarae") Boud. 1902. Bull. Soc. Mycol. France 18: 272.

≡Amanita vaginata var. battarrae ("Battarae") (Boud.) E.-J. Gilbert. 1918. Gen. Amanita Pers.: 147.

≡Amanita vaginata f. battarrae ("battarae") (Boud.) Veselý. 1933. Ann. Mycol. 31(4): 279.

≡Amanita vaginata subsp.badia var. battarrae (“battarae”) (Boud.) Konrad & Maubl. 1924. Icon. Select. Fung., Texte: 34.

≡Amanita vaginata f. battarrae ("battarae") (Boud.) Contu. 1986a. Doc. Mycol. 17(65): 62. [Superfluous combination.]

=Amanita battarrae Dörfelt & Conrad nom. inval. 1980. Hercynia N. F. 17(1): 43-59. [Lacking full and direct reference to basionym. ICBN §33.2]

The editors of this site owe a great debt to Dr. Cornelis Bas whose famous cigar box files of Amanita nomenclatural information gathered over three or more decades were made available to RET for computerization and make up the lion's share of the nomenclatural information presented on this site.

etymology

genitive of a Latinized name; hence "of Battarra" or "Battarra's"

MycoBank nos.

103034

GenBank nos.

Due to delays in data processing at GenBank, some accession numbers may lead to unreleased (pending) pages. These pages will eventually be made live, so try again later.

accession	locus	voucher	source

holotypes

Battarra. 1755. Fungi Agri Ariminensis Historia: pl. 5C. [Cf. ICBN Vienna Code 7.7 and associated examples. This plate must be judged holotype of the present name; and designating it as lectotype (Neville and Poumarat 2009: 144) is superfluous.]

intro

citations

—R. E. Tulloss

editors

RET

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