European Panther

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Subclass: Hymenomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Amanitaceae
Genus: Amanita
Species: A. pantherina var. pantherina
Binomial name
Amanita pantherina var. pantherina
(DC. ex Fr.) Krombh.

Amanita pantherina var. pantherina, also known as the "European Panther" and "False Blusher" due to its similarity to the true Blusher (Amanita rubescens), is a species of Europe and western Asia. Material described as A. pantherina in the Americas seems to belong to a number of distinct taxa only some of which have been described.

Contents

Description

  • Cap: 4 — 11 cm wide, Hemispheric at first, then convex to plano-convex, deep brown to hazel-brown to pale ochraceous brown, densely distributed warts that are pure white to sordid cream, minutely verruculose, floccose, easily removable. Viscid when wet, with a short striate margin, The flesh is white, unchanging when injured.
  • Gills: free, close to crowded, white becoming grayish, truncate.
  • Spores: white in deposit, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid to elongate, infrequently globose. 8 — 12 × 5.5 — 8 µm.
  • Stipe: 5 — 14 cm long × .6 — 2 cm wide, subcyclindric, somewhat narrowing upward, white, becoming slightly tannish in age, stuffed then hollow, finely floccose becoming smooth above the ring, and with small appressed squamules or creamy floccose material below. The volva is white, becoming gray with age, forming one or sometimes two narrow hoop-like rings just above the bulbous base. The flesh is white, unchanging when injured.
  • Taste:
  • Odor: Unpleasant or like raw potatoes
  • Microscopic features:

Habitat and distribution

The panther cap is an uncommon mushroom, found in both deciduous, especially beech and, less frequently, coniferous woodland and rarely meadows throughout Europe, western Asia in late summer and autumn.[1] It has also been recorded from South Africa, where it is thought to have been accidentally introduced with trees imported from Europe.[2]

It is an ectomycorrhizal fungus, living in root symbiosis with a tree, deriving photosynthesised nutrients from it and providing soil nutrients in return.

Biochemistry

The European Panther contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, it is used as an entheogen much less often than the related Amanita muscaria because of the extremely high levels of these compounds found in the mushroom. They are however sometimes dried or cooked at a low temperature and ingested, often with disastrous results.[3]

References

  1. ^ Jordan P & Wheeler S (2001). The Ultimate Mushroom Book. Hermes House. 
  2. ^ Reid DA, Eicker A (1991). "South African fungi: the genus Amanita" (PDF). Mycological Research 95: 80–95. http://www.msu.edu/user/hallenhe/SAJB%20amatoxin.pdf. Retrieved on 13 November 2007. 
  3. ^ North, Pamela (1967). Poisonous Plants and Fungi in colour. Blandford Press & Pharmacological Society of Great Britain. pp. 114. 

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amanita pantherina
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_pantherina_var._pantherina"


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