First Fungus - Cleft-foot Amanita (amanita brunnescens)

Cleft-foot Amanita in a mixed deciduous-
coniferous wood with many oak trees.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011
Do not copy.

I've always wanted to learn to identify mushrooms, particularly the edible ones, but have never gotten around to it. Hopefully, the effort of learning how to identify every species of plant (which does include fungi such as mushrooms) that lives in my yard will help get me there. I have about four acres of forest in my yard, which is home to a wide variety of mushrooms and other fungi, so if I can figure out all of the ones that grow here, I should have a good start of familiar species and I should know most of the key traits to look for in order to properly identify most species.

To start with, I photographed a mushroom in various states of growth as there were several of the same species present. I lifted one out of the ground to look at the base. I photographed the stalk and the underside of the cap. I noted the type of ground and vegetation around it. I thought I had all the bases covered. I was wrong.

For many species of mushrooms, it may be necessary to 1) bruise the mushroom stalk to see if the bruise discolors and if so what color it turns. 2) slice the gills and see if they exude a latex and, if they do, what color it is, and if it changes color after exposure to air. 3) take a spore print and see the color of the spores. A microscopic examination of the spores can also provide an identification key, although that would rarely, if ever, be needed.

In this case, however, I got lucky and believe I have a good identification using the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. The mushroom specimen pictured here appears to be the cleft-foot amanita (Amanita brunnescens). A species listed as "possibly poisonous," but closely related (and similar in appearance) to some very seriously poisonous Amanita mushrooms. How did I get to that conclusion? Let's go through the steps.

The vertical split is clearly visible in this specimen of
Cleft-foot Amanita.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011.

First, the general shape of the mushroom with the large, bulbous base, the cap shape, the scales on the top of the cap and the ring around the stalk strongly suggest an amanita according to the shape key in the Audubon Guide. In fact, the shape narrows it down to nine varieties of amanita. When I notice that one of these is called the cleft-foot amanita. I recall that I noticed a distinct  vertical split or cleft in the base (or foot) of each mushroom specimen that I examined. It even shows in some of the photos. Bingo. That's my prime candidate.

Then we run down the other field marks or identification keys for this species. Dark brown to whitish at the margin, check. Patches left over from the universal veil on the top of the cap, check. A collapsing pendant ring (looks like a skirt of skin-like tissue) around the mid or upper stalk, check. Large, bulbous base with an abrupt start from the stalk, check. Gills are free (meaning that the gills are not attached to the central stalk), check. The base has a distinct vertical cleft or split, check. Season: July- October, check. Grows on dry ground among deciduous trees, especially oak, check. Flesh is white, check. Bruises to reddish-brown, unknown (although there is some brownish discoloration where the stalk has been subject to normal wear). Spore print is white, unknown.

The gills and collapsed pendant ring of the cleft-foot amanita
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011

Furthermore the field guide provides several color plates which match my photos very closely and lists potential look-alike varieties (some of which are fatally poisonous) which I ruled out one by one by going through their identification guides. I feel quite confident in this identification. The spore print would help me pin it down to the genus Amanita, but I'm very confident at the genus level.

The bulbous base of the Cleft-foot Amanita begins abruptly
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011

The cleft-foot amanita while listed as "possibly poisonous" belongs to the same Family and genus as the infamous Death cap mushroom, the deadly Destroying Angel mushroom, the hallucination and coma inducing Panther (a very near look-alike, rarely found in the east) and Fly Agaric mushrooms. Therefore, of course, it should not be eaten under any circumstances.