Amanita phalloides look alikes in S.E. Asia?
schaj at harborside.com
Sat Feb 10 00:56:22 EST 1996
watson at pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (John S. Watson - FSC) wrote:
>Recently there has been another rash of mushroom
>poisonings in our area due to Amanita phalloides.
>From what I read in the newspaper, the victims were
>immigrants from Asia, and mistook Amanita phalloides
>for an edible Asian variety. What the paper didn't
>mention was exactly what was that muchroom, only that
>it was "straw mushroom" and that it had the same "growth patterns"
>as Amanita phalloides (they didn't explain what they meant by that).
The straw mushroom is Volvariella volvacea. It grows throughout
tropical and subtropical Asia. It resembles an amanita with its volva
or cup, but lacks a ring or annulus. Excellent pictures of Amanita
phalloides and the straw mushroom are in Simon and Shusters mushroom
field guide. ( I know the title isn't quite right, but I loaned out
my copy and it was never returned).
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