Amanita boudieri var. beillei

According to Neville and Poumarat (2004), Amanita boudieri var. beillei is known only from the French départemant of Landes, from which it was originally described. It is a species of the spring, and Beauseigneur said it was the only Amanita at the time he collected it.  (In the experience of Neville and Poumarat, the following species may occur at the same time and place: Amanita boudieri Barla, A. curtipes E.-J. Gilbert, and A. gilbertii Beauseign.) Neville and Poumarat give collecting dates from the end of April to the end of May. The present taxon occurs in sandy soil; and, according to Neville and Poumarat, its woody plant associates include pines (Pinus pinaster), oaks (Quercus suber, Q. pendunculata, Q. pyrenaica, Q. ilex, and Q. robur), Cistus ladanifer, and chestnut (Castanea sativa).

In addition to the present taxon, Neville and Poumarat (1996) introduced varieties with pinkish, salmon, or brick red gills and pinkish staining flesh for A. solitaria (Bull. : Fr.) Fr. (var. subbeillei Neville & Poumarat) and A. gracilior Bas ex Bas & Honrubia (var. beilleioides Neville & Poumarat).  When he first read the article, it struck RET that the authors might be describing three taxa of Amanita subsect. Solitariae Bas that were liable to "attack" by an organism that caused the changing colors in the gills and the staining in the flesh—reminiscent of the "yellowing syndrome" first observed in A. subsolitaria (Murrill) Murrill.  Neville and Poumarat report that their two varieties of A. boudieri can be found growing side by side as is the case with the yellowing and non-yellowing specimens of A. subsolitaria.

The consideration of a nongenetic cause for the color changes was anticipated by Gilbert (1941).  As Neville and Poumarat note, Gilbert had considered that A. beillei Beauseign. was simply a color form of A. boudieri or that the colors were caused by environmental factors such as chemicals from the ocean.  (Beauseigneur''s original collecting site was littoral.)

Neville and Poumarat note that the different intensities of the "supernumerary pigment" in different parts of the fruiting body appear to them to have a common pattern and, probably, a common cause in all three of their varieties. They make this statement as part of an argument for infraspecific status for the "reddening" varieties. This observation is not inconsistent with the hypothesis that production of the pigment is being determined by something other than the amanitas.—R. E. Tulloss and L. Possiel

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.

"I found the following differences: (i) Gills when young already ochraceous pink, later becoming clay-coloured, against white to cream or yellowish in A. baccata.  (ii) Stem solid but becoming hollow, dingy cream-white, squamose below ring, against solid, white, glabrous to subflocculose in A. baccata.  (iii) Flesh of cap dingy white, of stempale 'café au lait,' against white in A. baccata.  (iv) Spore print Naples yellow, against white in A. baccata.  (v) Spores 11 - 14 × 7 - 8 μm, against 10.5 - 14 × 5 - 6.5 μm in A. baccata; but Gilbert (1941: 406) found the spores in the type collection of Lepidella beillei 12 - 14 × 6 - 7 μm.  Some differences are to be found also in Beauseigneur's description of other microscopical characters, but these must be checked in the type.  Beauseigneur mentioned the absence of clamps from hyphae in the pileipellis, the volval remnants, and the tissue of the stem.

"Unfortunately I was unable to study the type of Lepidella beillei, as I failed to locate Gilbert's herbarium in which it is kept (Gilbert 1941: 406).

"Epecially in view of the observations of Parrot (1960: 40) and Bertault (1964: 370) I am inclined to believe that L. beillei is in fact an ecological form of A. baccata.  But for a conclusive judgement the microscopical structure of the volva and the presence or absence of clamps at the basidia must be known (preferably from the type collection!).  Lepidella beillei might appear to be more closely related to clamp-bearing A. gracilior."