Mushroom of the Day

American Caesar's Mushroom

Amanita caesarea, or

A. umbonata

I decided to go mushroom hunting at a park in the nearest city today, just to see what would happen. I'd been there to go walking a few times before with my husband, but those instances were always pre-season. After becoming completely familiar and, frankly, a little bit bored with what I've seen around our property over the last few weeks, I was craving a new place to go foraging. I recalled this park having lots of beautiful, mature deciduous trees and a good number of conifers as well. The park management has also recently created a fantastic network of unpaved trails through meadows and heavily forested areas outside of the main park area (for the purposes of the high school's cross country team), so I thought this would be an awesome place to go. 

And I was right! I saw all kinds of lovely little boletes, some neat shelf mushrooms, and more amanitas than I'd ever seen in one place in my whole life. It was fantastically exciting, not to mention a beautiful day to go out and immerse oneself in nature. I wandered around for a few miles, snapping pictures and collecting samples before I decided to head back home to study what I'd found. 

On the way back to the car I decided to take a different trail and happened upon these beauties--hundreds and hundreds of them, including a fairy ring! Not only were their vivid golden orange caps incredibly striking, but the sheer size of some of these fruit bodies stopped me dead in my tracks. I had a sneaking suspicion that they're A. caesarea because of what I'd read about their preferred habitat: warm climates, sandy earth, deciduous forests. I wasn't entirely sure, though, because I'd never seen one in person. Upon reading more about them and taking a close look at my samples, I concluded they really are Caesar's mushrooms. What a happy Friday!

Cap: 2-8 inches wide. Orange-red at center become lighter golden orange or orange-yellow closer to margin. Shiny, dry and smooth, but often a bit sticky when young. Radially lined margin. Convex becoming flatter with maturity. 

Gills: Free or nearly so. Close. Cream to golden yellow. 

Veil: Universal. Yellow to orange partial veil/annulus. Substantial fleshy white sac-shaped cup/volva. 

Stem: Yellow to golden orange. White interior flesh becoming hollow. 

Flesh: Cream to pale yellow. 

Odor: Non-distinctive. 

Edibility: Choice in Europe. Questionable/with caution in America. 

Additional Notes: Can be fairly easily confused with the poisonous A. muscaria (Fly Agaric). Remember, if you have the substantial white cup, a smooth cap and yellowish gills, you probably have the A. caesarea. Also, while the European version is considered a top-of-the-line, choice edible, it is suggested that the American counterpart is not entirely the same and is considered a mediocre at-best edible. I wouldn't advise ingestion, however. I think it's better enjoyed as eye candy. :)