BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Amanita albocreata is a species of the hardwood-hemlock (Tsuga) forest of the northeastern U.S.A. and southeastern Canada and of boreal forest at least as far north as the Island of Newfoundland.  Its cap is white with a yellowish or yellowish tan center and a strongly striate margin. The volval is distributed over the 25 - 65 (-85) mm wide cap as white warts.

The gills are free to slightly adnate, subcrowded to crowded, pale cream in mass, 3 - 10.5 mm broad, with a minutely flocculose edge. The short gills are truncate to excavate-truncate with or without an attenuate "tooth" at the juncture with the flesh of the cap.

The stem is 80 - 120 x 6 - 8 mm and lacks a ring entirely. The notable bulb (15 - 22 x 12 - 20 mm) bears a distinct white collar as do some species with annulate stems such as A. multisquamosa Peck, A. velatipes G. F. Atk., and A. pantherina (DC. : Fr.) Krombh.

The spores measure (7.3-) 7.7 - 9.5 (-11.6) x 6.6 - 8.4 (-9.4) µm and are globose to subglobose or occasionally broadly ellipsoid and inamyloid. Clamps are rare at bases of basidia.

The species may be toxic and would be likely to produce dramatic symptoms similar to those of A. muscaria (L. : Fr.) Lam. and A. pantherina.

In boreal forest, A. albocreata lacks its often presumed symbiont, Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and is now known with confidence from a site near the base of Table Mtn., Gros Morne Nat. Pk. (Isl. of Newfoundland, Canada) in minimal soil over serpentine with environmentally stunted Larch/Tamarack (Larix laricina) and Birch (Betula).  It should be noted that in the hardwood-hemlock forests, potential symbionts other than Eastern Hemlock are not uncommon, for example, Birch, Oak, and Basswood (Tilia). -- R. E. Tulloss