Amanita simulans
Pileus-35-85mm - light grey-brown, sub-spherical initially, becoming convex, only very slightly umbonate, smooth. glabrous, margin with deep striations, velar patches adhering, grey-ochraceous rust, wooly.
Stipe-80-122mm x 12-20, white with grey hue, becoming pinkish-brown upon handling, tiny little grey-brown fibrils culminating in pointed markings toward the base. Cylindrical, narrowing at apex, widening at base. Volval sac - +- friable, hardly saccate, leaving only upper fringe, becoming ochre-fulvous, not unlike A. fulva, volva in colouration.
Gills - Barely free, adnexed, - white- cream, crowded, ventricose, edge friable, darkening with maturity leaving a lined edge (partial velar deposit).
Flesh-white-cream in cap and stem, fistulose in stem, ochre-fulvous in base. Taste mild, smell none.
Chemical reactions-Phenol vinaceous on stem flesh.
Spores broadly ellipsoid-subglobose
7.9-9.1 x 9.1-10.2um, smooth, hyaline. ( Generall sub-globose though some broadly ellipsoid mixed in)
Volval tissue dominated by large sphaerocystic cells, filamentous hyphae present also.
Rare
Widely known to associate with Populus on Mainland Europe. This collection was with Fagus
In the UK known only from Shropshire and London.
Parkland & Scattered Trees. Also known from open woodland.