A large, bone-white Lepidella with a powdery cap that breaks into soft warts or small pyramids, a fragile ring that often disappears, and a large, abrupt powdery bulb. It has a foul, chlorine-like odor and is often misidentified as A. chlorinosma. It occurs in the eastern United States south through Mexico to Central America.
Edibility unknown; do not eat. As a large white Amanita it can be confused with the deadly destroying angels (Amanita bisporigera and relatives, amatoxins), which have a smooth bald cap, a persistent membranous ring and a sack-like volva instead of a powdery bulb.
Help build this page
This page grows with the community. Here is what it is still missing:
Photos. None yet — moderators review each photo before it appears.Sign in to add a photo
Sightings. Spotted it in the wild? Add it to the map.Open the map
Strains. No public strains of this species on WeMush yet.
Track Your Own Amanita polypyramis Grows
Join WeMush to log cultivation data, discover strains, and connect with fellow growers.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal with oaks, often in pine-oak forests. Usually solitary or scattered. Summer and fall.
Distribution
Eastern United States from Texas to New Jersey and Florida, with records north to New England (notably Cape Cod), and south through Mexico to Central America (Costa Rica).
Characteristics
Cap: 7-21 cm, convex becoming nearly flat; whitish; covered with a powdery layer that becomes soft warts or patches; margin sometimes hung with veil material. Gills: free or nearly so, close to crowded, cream to dirty buff, with frequent short gills. Stem: 7-20 cm long, up to 3.5 cm thick, powdery when young. Ring: large, fragile, whitish, often lost. Bulb: large, abrupt and powdery. Flesh: white, not changing. Odor: foul, chlorine-like. Spore print: white. Spores: 9-14 x 5-10 um, broadly ellipsoid, smooth, amyloid. Microscopic: basidia lack basal clamps.
