Blusher

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Blusher, also known as Blushing Amanita, is a common and widespread gilled mushroom. It occurs in Europe and North America, and it has been recorded in China and Australia. It has also been recorded in South Africa, where it is believed to have been accidentally introduced. In the United States it occurs east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains, with only a handful of records between.

Blusher is found in summer and fall in deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests. It appears alone, scattered, or in groups but not clustered (gregarious). It grows on the ground under hardwoods, especially oaks, but also ash, birch, hickory, and maple. It also grows under pines and other conifers. It has a mutually beneficial relationship (mycorrhizal) with the tiny rootlets of trees, absorbing sugars and amino acids while helping the tree absorb water.

When it first appears, the cap is broadly cone-shaped and pale yellowish tan or tannish yellow. The margin is curved inward. The surface is tacky and is densely covered with numerous felty, almost pyramid-shaped, pale yellow to yellow, sometimes bright yellow, warts. The warts are remnants of the universal veil. As it ages it turns pale tan and the cap spreads out, becoming first hemispheric or very broadly bell-shaped, then broadly convex above and flat below. Mature caps are flat or shallowly depressed, 1½″ to 6″ (40 to 150 mm) in diameter, and flushed pinkish, reddish-brown, or brown. The margins are curved downward and are usually not lined. The surface is dry and covered with scattered, tan to pale brown warts.

The gills are white and closely spaced. They are narrowly attached to broadly attached to the stalk when young, sometimes becoming unattached (free) from the stalk in age. Between the main gills there are numerous, unevenly distributed, short gills that do not reach the stalk.

The stalk is 2″ to 7″ (5 to 18 cm) long, ⅜″ to 1¼″ (1 to 3 cm) thick. It broadens toward the bottom, sometimes to a bulb-like base. There is a persistent, fragile, skirt-like ring of tissue, remnants of the partial veil, near the top. The stalk is white at first, becoming stained pinkish, reddish, or reddish brown below the ring. It may be bald or covered with fine hair-like fibers. There are many soft scales near the base, more remnants of the universal veil. The ring eventually colapses and sheathes the stalk.

The flesh is firm, white, and thick at the stalk, becoming thin at the margin. It slowly turns pink or reddish when bruised. This is the feature that gives the mushroom its common name. It is non-poisonous when properly cooked, but indigestible or even poisonous when raw. The mushroom is also easily mistaken for other species that are poisonous. For these reasons, eating is not recommended.

The spore print is white.

Deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests

Oaks, ash, birch, hickory, maple, pines, and other conifers

Summer and fall

Amanita Mold (Hypomyces hyalinus) covers the entire mushroom with a soft, whitish to pinkish coating and causes the growing mushroom to become disfigured.

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Common

Amanita rubescens is a highly variable species. At least 23 subspecies, varieties, and forms have been described based on morphology, microscopic characteristics, and genetics. MycoBank recognizes all of them. Index Fungorum recognizes none of them. GBIF recognizes two subspecies, one variety, and two forms.

The Amanita rubescens in eastern North America is probably not the same as the common European species with the same name. Recent and ongoing genetic testing have so far separated one subspecies and eight distinct species. The subspecies is the white-capped Eastern American White Blusher (Amanita rubescens var. alba). Three of the new species share the same provisional name Amanita amerirubescens. The cream colored to tan mushrooms are often identified only to the species level.

This one was holding water like a chalice

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Location: Cass County

This one was holding water like a chalice