Peck CH. 1913. Report of the State Botanist 1912. Bulletin of the New York State Museum 167: 51.

Amanita ovoidea Bull.

OVOID AMANITA

Plate 131

Pileus fleshy, hemispheric or expanded, glabrous, inflexed on the margin, pure white, flesh white, taste insipid; lamellae rather broad, subclose, ventricose, free or nearly so, white; stem equal or tapering upward, squamulose farinaceous, solid, firm, white without and within, bulbous at the base, annulate above; spores globose or subglobose, 10-12 x 9-11 microns or about 10 microns broad.

The ovoid amanita is a large, attractive and noble looking species. It is pure white throughout with the exception of the volva that envelops the bulbous base of the stem. This is slightly tinged with pink. The cap may range from 4 to 8 inches broad, the stem from 4 to 6 inches long and 6 to 12 lines thick. The cap is very smooth, almost glossy, and white as snow. The flesh also is white but its taste is insipid, and in cooking it is necessary to season it well with butter and salt to make it satisfactorily palatable. The stem is firm, solid, more or less mealy externally and pure white. The species is very rare having not before been found in our state so far as I know. In Sylloge, volume V, page 9, Professor Saccardo remarks that he has never seen its spores nor has anyone else so far as he knows. This remark no longer holds good. The New York specimens yielded spores. Since the species is cogeneric with some of our most poisonous species of mushrooms, We advise no one to try its edibility unless perfectly sure of its identity.