[ Section Phalloideae page. ]  [ Amanita Studies home. ]  [ Keys & Checklist/Picturebooks ]

Technical description not yet available.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The following is largely based on the description of Neville and Poumarat (2004).

The cap of Amanita verna is 45 - 65 mm wide, white, yellow-ochre in the center,  at first hemispheric with a flattened center, then convex, finally nearly planar, smooth, shiny, slightly viscid when moist,  quickly drying becoming satiny, with a nonstriate and nonappendiculate margin. The flesh is white, about 3 - 5 mm thick over the stem, and relatively firm.

Gills are free at maturity, white to cream white, up to 6 mm broad, somewhat uneven on the edges, with a finely flocculent edge in young specimens. The short gills are subtruncate for the most part, some are sharply truncate.

The stem is 85 - 105 × 7 - 13 mm, cylindric, white, stuffed then hollow, smooth with fine scales, with a soft round bulb at the base. The ring is membranous, thin, skirt-like, persistent, with a few vague striations on the upper side. The volva is limbate, white, membranous, arising from the top of the bulb, lacking an internal limb, with the top of the limb 25 - 30 mm from the top of the bulb.

The odor is lacking at first then a little disagreeable. 

Spores from those specimens that become yellow in KOH solution measure (8.0-) 8.2 - 11.0 (-11.9) x (5.7-) 6.0 - 7.5 (-8.5) µm and are broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid, infrequently elongate and amyloid, according to RET's observations.  Clamps are absent at the bases of basidia. Spores measured by Neville and Poumarat are as follows: (8-) 9 - 11.5 (-12) × (5.5-) 6 - 8.5 (-9.5) µm and are subglobose to broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid, infrequently elongate and amyloid.

Amanita verna is deadly poison. 

Amanita verna was originally described from France and occurs with oak (Quercus).

Is the pictured entity a species other than A. verna or was A. verna incorrectly reported to have no reaction to KOH solution?

There is no type specimen for Amanita verna. Given this fact, how could one prove whether or not A. verna reacts to KOH? Due to the unproven belief that the true A. verna (whatever that is) doesn't react to KOH, a new name was introduced for the taxon illustrated above: Amanita decipiens (Trimbach) Andary & Bon. This taxon was said to differ from the "true" A. verna solely in having a yellow response to spot testing with KOH.  In the system of Bas, the difference of a single character between taxa does not justify the creation of a taxon at the rank of variety.

Neville and Poumarat (2004) provide an extensive discussion of Amanita verna in which they state that fruiting bodies with a strong yellow response and a weak yellow response occur in the same place at the same time. 

Neville and Poumarat cite Romagnesi as having stated that in the environs of Paris he had never seen A. verna that was not reactive to KOH. Romagnesi also pointed out that Bullard's familiarity with A. verna was undoubtedly based on material from the vicinity of Paris.

A recent informal study in southern France (carried out by Francis Massart, his colleagues, and his correspondents) found all collected specimens that appeared to be A. verna were positive (yellow-orange staining) when tested with KOH. 

It is very possible that the original report (no reaction to KOH in A. verna) was based on a KOH test on A. phalloides f. alba Britzlem. Neville and Poumarat give textual evidence from Bataille's original description of the reaction that he was, indeed, reporting not on A. verna but on white material of A. phalloides. 

We suggest the following series of hypotheses.

1. Bataille never intended to report on the taxon we currently call A. verna. Hence Bataille presents no evidence one way or another concerning KOH reaction in A. verna.

2. Since many secondary metabolites (for example, specific amatoxins) in poisonous Amanitas are variable from specimen to specimen even in a single locality (e.g., Peterson 1982) and since KOH reaction is said to be variable in some populations of A. verna and consistently positive in others, the simplest hypothesis is that the chemical component(s) involved in the yellow reaction is/are present in varying concentration in at least some populations. 

3. The decision to segregate a weak reaction to KOH from a strong reaction to KOH is arbitrary. In addition, the ephemeral nature of a weak reaction is not related to its weakness; the strong reactions also do not persist indefinitely. More intense reactions simply take longer to fade away.

4. It is reasonable to base the interpretation of the European species on European material, particularly on material found in the area from which the taxon in question was originally reported. 

5. Evidence of a small number of cases of variation in amatoxin content is not sufficient evidence for the erection of a new taxon. (See number 2 above)

6. Finally, the simplest taxonomic model for A. verna that is supported by the existing evidence is of a single species with variable intensity of reaction to KOH spot testing, i.e., occasional fruiting bodies react weakly to such tests.

Photos: Francis Massart (France)

[ Section Phalloideae page. ]  [ Amanita Studies home. ]  [ Keys & Checklist/Picturebooks ]

Last change 9 August 2008.
This page is maintained by R. E. Tulloss.
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by Rodham E. Tulloss.
Photographs copyright 2003 and 2007 by Francis Massart.