Saffron float (Amanita crocea)
- Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Amanitaceae (Amanitaceae)
- Genus: Amanita (Amanita)
- Subgenus: Amanitopsis (Float)
- Type: Amanita crocea (Float saffron)
Float saffron (lat. Amanita crocea) is a mushroom from the genus Amanita of the family Amanitaceae (Amanitaceae).
Hat:
Diameter 5-10 cm, at first ovoid, becoming more prostrate with age. The surface of the cap is smooth, shiny in wet weather, the edges are usually “ribbed” due to protruding plates (this is not always noticeable in young mushrooms). The color varies from yellow-saffron to orange-yellow, in the central part of the cap is darker than at the edges. The flesh of the cap is whitish or yellowish, without much taste and smell, thin and brittle.
Records:
Loose, frequent, white when young, becoming creamy or yellowish with age.
Spore powder:
White.
Leg:
Height 7-15 cm, thickness 1-1,5 cm, whitish or yellowish, hollow, thickened at the base, often with a bend in the middle part, growing from a pronounced volva (which, however, can be hidden underground), without a ring . The surface of the leg is covered with peculiar scaly belts.
Spread:
The saffron float is found from early July to late September in deciduous and mixed forests, preferring light places, edges, light forests. Often grows in swamps. There seems to be no obvious peak of fruiting.
Similar species:
The saffron float can be easily confused with the Caesar mushroom.
Two related species, Amanita vaginata and Amanita fulva, grow under similar conditions. It is difficult to formalize the differences between them: the color of the hat is very variable for everyone, the habitats are quite similar. It is believed that A. vaginata is larger and fleshier, and A. fulva often has a peculiar bump on the cap, but these signs are not the most reliable. One hundred percent certainty can provide a simple chemical study. The saffron float mushroom in adulthood looks very similar to the pale grebe, but unlike this poisonous mushroom, it does not have a ring on the leg.
Edibility:
Saffron float – Invaluable edible mushroom: thin-fleshed, crumbles easily, tasteless. (The rest of the floats, however, are even worse.) Some sources indicate that pre-heat treatment is necessary.