I know, I know - BE VERY CAREFUL. DO NOT INGEST UNLESS 100% CERTAIN. I have dried them and frozen them in a baggie and plan to take my sweet time IDing them. A positive ID will result in a TINY bioasay quite near a phone with 911 on speed-dial

Now that that is out of the way:

I have been searching for the elusive Amanita Muscaria in the woods surrounding my chalet for 3 years with no success. They are rare, but do exist in quebec, and are often yellowish white with white universal veil specks instead of the more common and emblematic red with white specks. I had all but given up, but when I pulled up the gravel drive a few days ago, I saw in the grass in the distance the small tabletops of fully expanded mushrooms, about 4-5 in all. Rushing over, I somehow knew what they were before I got there: AMANITAS!! Lo and motherfuckin' behold...!! I was beside myself and all around with joy and awe and wonder!!

Of course, they may not be amanitas, but something tells me they are. Something tells me they FOUND ME. I photographed, picked them, cleaned them and dried them in a food dessicator before bagging and freezing them. I also took a spore print and the spores were white, typical of the amanita species, but not garanteeing that they are A. Muscaaria... Anyway, i am launching some research to ID them positively and thought I would post here to see if anyone had any thoughts are if any amateur or professional mycologists could help me out.

I apologize for the blurriness of some of the photos - the field pics were taken with my camera phone...Note the unique gill formations, the spore print colour, the initial bulbous shape, the plate lake convex cap and the speckled universal veil remnants. and oh, the colour - keep in mind not all of them are red.

I will be THRILLED if these are A. muscaria, and astounded yet again at this gift - that after years of searching, THEY found ME.

Thanks,

JBArk

my guess would be either amanita rubescens (to be cooked but no muscimol in this one, or maybe if you're lucky the yellow fly agaric formosa...
http://www.eticomm.net/~ret/amanita/species/muscgues.html
could you do a spore print and tell which color it is ?

I'm no specialist, so the best would be to check a few sources of mycologist.
Note that I'm in europe thus unfamiliar with formosa variety of amanita muscaria. But from pics it could well be that.
It doesn't look like a deadly poisonous to me..

[quote=rOm
could you do a spore print and tell which color it is ?

[/quote]

Read the whole post! there is also a spore print pic!

My bad !! Browsing too fast ! white spore could be still amanita var. guessowii or var.formosa (good for you) or rubescens (good to eat well cooked)...
I can't say any further.
I wish you'll find out.

You live in a chalet? And surrounded by woods? And you've been searching for Amanitas? And they grow in your yard?! That's like a fairy tale.

and my name is hansel...

The chalet is, I guess, "my country house", but i hate that word. I live in the city and am fortunate enough to have a "cottage", so I guess it is sort of a fairy tale!!

JBArk

BTW, why'd you change you name a few months back?

take a look at this link and scroll down. there are pics of mushrooms that look identical to the ones I found, identified as amanita muscaria. I will not take ID from someone's personal website as proof positive by any means, but it is reassuring.

HERE is another (scroll down. In french sorry, but excerpted from a quebec mushroom ID guide, and called Amanita tue-mouche (fly-killer).)

And these are not disimilar either.

JBArk

yeahee Amarita Muscaria var. guessowii they said that's what it looks from canadian perspective.
Over here we only have rubescens that looks this way.
I thinck there is a chance but still, we need an expert as you mentionned.

Check out this website

Yes, as sigmund brought up with that site, identifying Amanita's by their base is also useful. As stated above, to me they look like amanita var. guessowii. Don't think its var.formosa since the gills from the pictures look cream coloured than pure white which var.formosa has. As far as rubescens also, dont think its that either cause gills are also white AND when damaged or cut the flesh and stem stain pink. Unless your frozen amanita's there have pink flesh, I'd say you have guessowii. All those pics really help out with a group ID. Many thanks. Cool that you are finding them in the east already. The red ones in the west are coming soon.... just a bit more rain I think then my friend SWIM is going to go out hunting Nice find.

you MUST have amanita muscaria there!! they must grow in profusion! I live on the oposite coast and they are one of the most abundant mushroom here, but they do grow pretty much wherever there is temperate forests..
too me your fungi looks like the yellow strain of amanita muscaria..but it's hard to say for sure, might be gemanata as well..seen any mushrooms that look the same but are red? they usually grow together here...
happy hunting, good luck finding the wonderous red giants on yourr hikes!

They definetly look like the yellow amanita muscaria we have here....
One thing I'd like to reccomend too you when eating any psychoactive fungi is to use a tablespoon or two of powdered milk thissle seads an hour or more before you ingest them, guard your liver!

Here is this year's haul, dried and frozen along with last year's harvest, waiting for an eventual positive ID (the largest one, (in the shape of a chalice - the HOLY GRAIL? ) has a diameter of just over 8 inches!):

that looks absolutely gorgeous!!

looks like Amanita Pantherina, which i think is more nauseating/sickening than muscaria..if i recall the information correctly, that is. i may be wrong, so also confirm at mycotopia to be safe.
<3

a. pantherina has a brownish grey cap. if i recall correctly 69 ron said that panthers cause less/no nausea.

i have never gotten nauseous from amanita muscaria.

interesting i had not heard of amanita var. guessowii

--only the var formosa.

what you have is a little curious because of the slender and yellowish stipe. your pics dont quite seem to fully resemble the classic amanita (formosa) for these reasons.

i have never consumed amanita with yellow stem.

edit: it may be possible you have 2 sub species. were they all growing in the same habitat?

If you do eat them keep us updated..I probably found about 200 of those last year..I never did eat them though. I know where they grow so I might go check the spots soon and take some pics and take some home.

Awesome visitors in your yard, jBarK!
I'll be hunting in the West soon.
Here's the wiki on Pantherina - it doesn't look likely.
Do you have access to a microscope? Examining spores would be fun, and perhaps help you key out these lovelies.
Best,
L

If you look at the OP, there is a spore print pic - white, just like amanitas. I have not had the chance to look at them under a scope though...

Here in Vermont, as well. These are a few Amanita Muscaria Formosa I harvested this September. This was the first of three small discoveries. Combined, they are proably just shy of an OZ? No, I haven't had the chance eat eat any yet, as I'm waiting for the Spirit to move me.

Just a few more pics of these Northern Vermont, yellow "Soma" mushrooms.