AMANITA. 263 



luTbous at tlie base. Yeil annular, white. Volva ]ierfect 

 only in extremely young plants, cracking immediately into 

 pyramidal warts, which bec(?me less elevated, and generally 

 leaving a few traces upon the bulb at the base of the stem. 



This most splendid chief of the agaricoid tribe really 

 deserves the name of imperial, applied to it by Batsch, for 

 Ihe most indifferent person must bo attracted by the glowing 

 hues of its ample pileus, its regular form, and tall pillar-like 

 stipes; eminently conspicuous, even at a distance, in the 

 shaded recesses of its native woods. In the Iliglilands of 

 Scotland it is imj^ossible not to admire it, as seen in long- 

 perspective between the trunks of the straight fir-trees ; and 

 should a sunbeam penetrate through the dark and dense 

 foliage, and rest on its vivid surface, an effect is produced 

 by this chief of a humble race which might lower the pride 

 of many a patrician vegetable. (Grev.) 



Amanita excelsa. Fr. 



Pileus 4-5 in. across, flesh thick, everywhere white, un- 

 changeable ; soft, globose, expanding until quite plane, viscid 

 in damp weather, then the surface often becomes wrinkled 

 into wart-like projections or variously cavernous and lacu- 

 nose; warts or fragments of the volva friable, irregular, 

 angular, greyish-white, readily separating and disappearing, 

 colour of pileus brownish-grey, centre darker ; margin even 

 at first, but when fully expanded and developed, evidently 

 striate; gills free, not striately decurrent down the stem, 

 ventricose, J in. and more broad; pure white, with many 

 intermediate short ones; stem at first stuffed, almost solid, 

 but becoming hollow, 4-6 in. long, 1 in. thick, base a de- 

 pressed sphere, above which the stem is attenuated upwards, 

 the epidermis broken up into dense, concentric scales up 

 to the ring or near the base only ; apex striate ; bulb some- 

 what marginate when young, but not at all separable, 

 margin scaly, immersed in the ground, somewhat rooting, 

 having irregularly concentric grooves below the margin; 

 ring superior, large, becoming free or torn ; sj)ores 

 8-9 X 5-6 IX. 



Agaricus (^Amanitci) excelsa, Fries, Epicr., p. 8 ; Cke., 

 Illustr., pi. 6 ; Cke., Hdbk., p. 8. 



Grassy places in woods. 



