About this fungus
Deathcap is a fungus in the Amanitaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
Deathcaps are often less dramatic than their name suggests. A mature specimen usually has a smooth olive-green or yellowish cap, although it may be brownish or almost white. The gills and stem are white. A ring may hang from the upper stem, while the swollen base sits inside a white, bag-like volva that can be hidden in the soil.
What to check
Expose the whole stem base rather than cutting it off at ground level. Look for a sac-like volva around a bulbous base, white gills that are free from the stem, and a pale ring that may be torn or missing on an older specimen. This combination points towards a dangerous Amanita, but it does not confirm Deathcap on its own.
Variation
The cap varies from olive-green and yellow-green to pale brown or nearly white. Darker radial fibres can give it a faintly streaked appearance. The ring is fragile and the volva may be buried, damaged or left behind when the mushroom is picked, so missing veil features in a photograph are not reliable evidence that they were absent.
Lookalikes
A true puffball is uniformly solid inside when young and does not contain the outline of a developing cap and gills. Agaricus mushrooms have no volva and their gills mature from pink to chocolate brown, but very young buttons can still be difficult to separate safely. White Deathcaps can also resemble other deadly Amanita species. A cut section is useful for ruling out a puffball, but it should not be treated as a certain way to separate a Deathcap from every gilled lookalike.
Habitat and range
This is a mycorrhizal woodland species most strongly associated with oak and beech, although it can occur with other broadleaf trees and occasionally with conifers. It fruits on the ground in woodland, parks and gardens, often among leaf litter. The exact season varies with climate and location.
Food safety
Deadly poisonous. Symptoms may not begin for many hours and can be followed by severe liver injury even if the person seems to improve for a time. If Deathcap ingestion is suspected, contact the local poison centre or emergency medical service immediately rather than waiting for symptoms.
Photographs
H. Krisp / CC BY 3.0
George Chernilevsky / Public Domain
Justin Pierce (JPierce) / CC BY-SA 3.0