A large eastern North American Lepidella with orangish to pinkish-brown veil warts and a massive club- or carrot-shaped bulb that roots deeply into the soil. It has a strong sweet-and-foul chlorine-like odor. Once considered rare, it is now known to be common in eastern oak forests, especially in the Appalachians.
Edibility unknown; do not eat. Other members of section Lepidella are poisonous. Pale specimens can be mistaken for other white Amanitas, including the deadly destroying angels (amatoxins), which lack the colored warts and rooting bulb and have a sack-like volva.
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Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal with oaks, often in mixed woods with oaks and conifers; also associated with hickory and birch. Favors disturbed soil such as roadsides. Usually solitary or scattered. Summer and fall.
Distribution
Eastern North America, from New Jersey and Ohio south to Texas and into Mexico (Sonora); most common in the Appalachian Mountains.
Characteristics
Cap: 6-25 cm, nearly round becoming convex to flat; dry; whitish ground color covered when young with orangish to pinkish-brown veil that breaks into soft warts, fading paler with age; veil chunks often hang from the margin. Gills: free or slightly attached, close to nearly crowded, white to faintly yellowish, with frequent short gills. Stem: 8-20 cm above ground, 2.5-4 cm thick, whitish with cottony veil material; ring delicate and often missing. Bulb: club- or carrot-shaped, up to 8 cm wide, often rooting 10 cm or more, covered with soft orangish to pinkish-brown scales. Flesh: white, not staining. Odor: strong, sweet and foul, chlorine-like, of rotting meat when old. Chemical reactions: KOH negative on cap. Spore print: white. Spores: 7-12 x 5-7 um, ellipsoid, smooth, amyloid.
