Caesar mushroom (Amanita caesarea)
- Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Amanitaceae (Amanitaceae)
- Genus: Amanita (Amanita)
- Type: Amanita caesarea (Caesar mushroom (Amanita caesar))
Description:
Hat 6-20 cm in diameter, ovoid, hemispherical, then convex-prostrate, orange or fiery red, turning yellow with age or withering, glabrous, less often with large white remains of a common veil, with a ribbed edge.
The plates are free, frequent, convex, orange-yellow.
Spores: 8-14 by 6-11 µm, more or less oblong, smooth, colorless, non-amyloid. Spore powder white or yellowish.
The leg is strong, fleshy, 5-19 by 1,5-2,5 cm, club-shaped or cylindrical-club-shaped, from light yellow to golden, in the upper part with a wide hanging yellow ribbed ring, near the base with a bag-shaped free or semi-free white Volvo. The peeping Volvo has an uneven lobed edge and looks like an eggshell.
The pulp is dense, strong, white, yellow-orange in the peripheral layer, with a slight smell of hazelnuts and a pleasant taste.
Spread:
It occurs from June to October in old light forests, copses, forest growths, on the border of deciduous forests and meadows. It traditionally grows under chestnuts and oaks, less often in the neighborhood of beech, birch, hazel or coniferous trees on acidic or decalcified soils, sporadically, singly.
A species with a disjunctive range. Found in Eurasia, America, Africa. Among the countries of Western Europe, it is distributed in Italy, Spain, France, Germany. On the territory of the CIS it is found in the Caucasus, in the Crimea and in the Carpathians. Listed in the Red Book of Germany and Ukraine.
The similarity:
Can be confused with the red fly agaric (Amanita muscaria (L.) Hook.), when the flakes from the latter’s hat are washed away by rain, and especially with its variety Amanita aureola Kalchbr., with an orange hat, almost devoid of white flakes and with a membranous Volvo. However, in this group the plates, ring and stem are white, in contrast to the Caesar mushroom, whose plates and ring on the stem are yellow, and only the Volvo is white.
It also looks like a saffron float, but it has a whiter leg and plates.
Evaluation:
Exclusively delicious edible mushroom (1st category), extremely valued since ancient times. Used boiled, fried, dried, pickled.