'' Amanita augusta'' is a small tannish-brown mushroom with cap colors bright yellow to dark brown and various combinations of the two colors. The mushroom is often recognizable by the fragmented yellow remnants of the universal veil. This mushroom grows year-round in the Pacific Northwest but fruiting tends to occur in late fall to mid-winter. The fungus grows in an

ectomycorrhiza An ectomycorrhiza (from Greek ἐκτός ', "outside", μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. ectomycorrhizas or ectomycorrhizae, abbreviated EcM) is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or mycobi ...

l relationship with

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

s and

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s often in mixed woodlands.

Taxonomy

''Amanita augusta'' is a species of agaric fungus in the family Amanitaceae. Found in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, it was initially referred to as ''Amanita franchetti'' (Boudier 1881) and later ''Amanita aspera'' (Thiers 1982, Arora 1986), but suspected of being a distinct species, It was formally described as '' Amanita augusta'' in 2013.

Description

The cap of ''A. augusta'' ranges from 4–12 cm across with a plano-convex curve. The surface of the cap is smooth and ranges in various shades of brown. The surface also contains scattered yellow to brown colored warts formed from the remains of the universal veil. The flesh of the mushroom is soft and tends to be white to light yellow. The lamellae consists of close, white gills that are free or mildly attached to the upper stipe. The stipe ranges from 5–15 cm long and 1–2 cm thick. Most stipe contain a partial veil that resembles a secondary, smaller ring the same color as the cap. The surface of the stipe is white and scattered with occasional scales. Yellow to gray warts remnants of the universal veil on the basal bulb. The

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s are elliptical, ranging from 8x12 - 6x8 µm and amyloid. Clamps are not present at the base of basidia. Like many other mushrooms of the Amanita species, ''A. augusta'' contains a white spore print.

Habitat and Distribution

''A. augusta'' is mycorrhizal with a range of trees in mixed woodlands. Usually found in small groups or alone. This mushroom is most commonly found in

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and Central California. The fungus is also found along the Pacific Northwest and has been seen in Montana and Idaho.

Ectomycorrhizae

This species forms ectomycorrhizal associations with

s and a variety of other hardwoods such as oak,

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, and Pinus species. This species showed a poor survival rate and is a very slow re-colonizer post controlled burn of host trees. When the fungi reappear and grow mycorrhizae, they form small communities rather than grow in a large group. Two of the most established hosts of ''A. augusta'' are '' P. muricata'' and '' Ps. menziesii'' .

Edibility

''A. augusta'' is classified as a non-edible fungus. This mushroom is known to be an accumulator of heavy metals such as Zinc, Copper, Lead, and others found in soil. The metals are mostly found in the cap and accumulate in the sporocarps but the stipe also contains the heavy metals. Many of the wild ''A. augusta'' contain levels of heavy metals above the threshold for safe human consumption. This mushroom's ability to accumulate heavy metals more effectively than others is most likely attributed to the ectomycorrhizal associations which allow them to be more efficient in the uptake of metals. One of the most common metals found in this mushroom is zinc. Examination of the mushroom must be done before any attempt at consumption.

Medical properties

''A. augusta'' was found to have strong

anti-proliferative Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemoth ...

activity and could be a potential source for drug discovery. Toxicity testing would need to be done within the mushroom in order to ensure that the medicinal properties are not negated by harmful side effects. Along with being a strong anti-proliferative, this species is also shown to be anti-inflammatory and immunostimulatory as well, meaning there may be many possible opportunities for drugs.

References

External links

*f {{Taxonbar, from=Q15093683 augusta Fungi of the United States Fungi described in 2013 Fungi without expected TNC conservation status