Edible
Meadow Mushroom
Agaricus campestris
Agaricus gills are pink when young and chocolate brown when mature, the spore print is dark brown, and there is no cup at the base.
Western Destroying Angel
Amanita ocreata
Deadly
Also called destroying angel, death angel.
The western destroying angel is a large white amanita of California and the Pacific coast that fruits under oaks in late winter and spring. It contains amatoxins, the same toxins as the death cap, and is one of the deadliest mushrooms in western North America.
Amanita ocreata
Photo coming
The tell
Large white to pale tan cap, white gills, a thin ring, and a thin, white, sac-like cup at the base, fruiting under oaks in late winter and spring.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Egg-shaped at first, then convex to flat. White, sometimes tinged yellowish, buff or pinkish tan at the center, smooth and slightly sticky when wet.
- Underside
- Gills white to cream, crowded, and narrowly attached to the stem (adnexed).
- Stem
- White, smooth to slightly fibrous, with a thin, white, skirt-like ring that is often fragile or missing. The base sits in a thin, white, membranous, sac-like cup (volva), often buried.
- Flesh
- White and unchanging when cut.
- Spore print
- White.
- Size
- Cap 2 to 6 inches wide (5 to 15 cm); stem 3 to 8 inches tall (7.5 to 20 cm).
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Oak woodland, especially under coast live oak, and mixed woods with oaks; occasionally near pines.
- Grows on
- Soil, mycorrhizal with the roots of living trees.
- Season
- Late winter and spring, roughly January through April, later than most death caps.
- Range
- California and the Pacific coast north into Washington, and south into Baja California.
Lookalikes
What the western destroying angel gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Springtime amanita
Amanita velosa fruits under the same oaks in the same season. It has a pinkish tan to salmon cap, usually with a patch of white veil tissue, a lined edge and no ring. Field guides note the two can be hard to separate in pale specimens.
Edible when pure white insideGem-Studded Puffball
Lycoperdon perlatum
An unopened egg looks like a white puffball. Split top to bottom, the egg shows the outline of a cap, gills and stem, while a puffball is uniform white inside.
DeadlyDeath Cap
Amanita phalloides
Also deadly, and also under California oaks. The death cap usually has a greenish to olive cap and fruits mainly in fall and winter.
More side-by-side comparisons
Edibility
What the field guides say
Deadly
The western destroying angel contains amatoxins, which shut down protein production in liver and kidney cells. Symptoms usually begin 6 to 24 hours after the meal with severe vomiting and diarrhea, often followed by a brief apparent recovery and then liver and kidney failure. Cooking, freezing and drying do not destroy amatoxins. Field guides list it as deadly.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the western destroying angel
Is the western destroying angel poisonous?
Yes, it is deadly. It contains amatoxins, the same toxins as the death cap, which destroy liver and kidney cells. Symptoms are delayed by 6 to 24 hours after eating.
When does the western destroying angel grow?
In late winter and spring, roughly January through April. That is later than the main death cap season in California, and it overlaps with the springtime amanita and spring Agaricus.
Where does Amanita ocreata grow?
Mainly in California under oaks, especially coast live oak, with records north into Washington and south into Baja California.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Amanita ocreata
MykoWeb, California Fungi
- Amanita ocreata
Index Fungorum
Also on Mushrooms.id
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Matsutake
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Amanita smithiana
Photo coming
Toxic, kidney damage
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Toxic raw
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