Fly agaric gray. Description and distribution of fly agaric gray (porphyry) Mushroom gray pink fly agaric

Systematics:

• Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
• Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
• Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
• Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
• Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
• Family: Amanitaceae (Amanitaceae)
• Genus: Amanita (Amanita)
• View: Amanita rubescens (Amanita grey-pink)

Other names for mushroom:

Other names:

• Fly agaric pink

• Fly agaric blushing

• Fly agaric pearl

Amanita gray-pink forms mycorrhiza with deciduous and coniferous trees, especially with birch and pine. It grows on soils of any type, everywhere in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Fly agaric gray-pink bears fruit singly or in small groups, is common. The season is from spring to late autumn, most often from July to October.

Hat ∅ 6-20 cm, usually no more than 15 cm. Initially semi-spherical or ovoid, then convex, in old mushrooms flat prostrate, without a noticeable tubercle. The skin is most often greyish-pink or red-brown to flesh-red, shiny, slightly sticky.

pulp white, fleshy or thinly fleshy, with a weak taste, without a special smell. When damaged, it gradually turns first into light pink, then into a characteristic intense wine-pink color.

Leg 3-10 × 1.5-3 cm (sometimes up to 20 cm high), cylindrical, at first solid, then becomes hollow. Color - white or pinkish, the surface is tuberculate. At the base it has a tuberous thickening, which, even in young mushrooms, is often damaged by insects and its flesh is permeated with colored passages.
The plates are white, very frequent, wide, free. When touched, they turn red, like the flesh of the cap and legs.
The rest of the cover. The ring is wide, membranous, drooping, first white, then turns pink. On the upper surface it has well-marked grooves. Volvo is weakly expressed, in the form of one or two rings on the tuberous base of the stem. The flakes on the cap are warty or in the form of small membranous scraps, from white to brownish or dirty pink. Spore powder whitish. Spores 8.5 × 6.5 µm, ellipsoidal.

Video about mushroom Amanita gray-pink:

Edible

Collect if you are 100% sure and you can distinguish from poisonous ones!

Although this mushroom is called "fly agaric", it is quite edible. To taste, of course, it’s a four with a minus, but you can certainly surprise your guests (and feed the especially brave ones). You can cook a fly agaric dish for the arrival of your mother-in-law ... (just kidding). The most important thing when collecting edible gray-pink fly agaric is not to be confused with poisonous counterparts: panther and red fly agaric. The hat of an edible fly agaric up to 20 cm in diameter is gray-pink or dirty red in color with dirty gray flakes. In wet and humid weather, the cap of the mushroom is mucus-wet. The pulp of the mushroom is white, if you break it on the leg, it gradually turns red. The plates at the bottom of the cap are white, in adults and overgrown fly agarics it is slightly reddened with spots. The stem of the mushroom is white, hollow inside, club-shaped at the end. There is a white dense ring on the leg. With age, the leg reddens a little. The smell is indescribable. The fungus grows from June to October in deciduous and coniferous forests. Usually grows in large groups. Adults of the fungus in the region of thickening of the stem are usually wormy, which is another property of the edibility of the fungus.

Photos of edible gray-pink fly agaric in nature

Description of edible fly agaric from literary sources

According to avid mushroom pickers, the gray-pink fly agaric is a completely edible mushroom, which in its cooked form is very similar to boiled chicken in its taste.

However, according to scientific data, it is this taste that is given to it by muscarinic poisons, which undergo partial destruction during exposure to high temperatures.

Therefore, you should not eat it even in small quantities.

It is possible that, subject to certain rules, it can be edible and safe for health. However, it is quite difficult to guess the boiling time during which the breakdown of toxins will occur.

The beginning of fruiting in central Russia falls on mid-June. The last specimens can be found at the end of October, provided there are no frosts on the soil.

In adulthood, this type of fly agaric can be confused with the faded red species of the amanita family. You can distinguish it by cutting the cap or stem of the mushroom. In a gray-pink fly agaric, the flesh, when oxygen molecules enter from the surrounding air, instantly acquires a faint shade of pink. In younger specimens, the flesh of the stem turns red on the cut.

Photo and description of gray-pink fly agaric

It is worth starting a description of the gray-pink fly agaric with its magnificent hat. This is a massive formation in the form of a ball in the early stages of development. In the future, with growth, the cap straightens its edges and forms a fairly thick layer of pulp under the skin of the outer surface. Dense white plates are attached to the pulp.

The diameter of the hat in the expanded state is about 20 cm. The predominant color is gray with a pink tint. On the outer surface - a dense leathery film with often planted white dots, consisting of scales. It has a sweet taste and a rather pleasant aroma.

In older individuals, dark red spots appear on the outer surface of the cap, which contrast with the main color of the fungus. The plates of the hymenophore also acquire a pink tint with the growth of the individual.

The height of the stem is 8-15 cm, the thickness rarely exceeds 3 cm. There is a tuber, a longitudinal cavity is formed inside at the age. When cut, the leg instantly turns blood red.

Insects can damage only the lowest part of the leg, which fits snugly to the ground. The soil allows you to protect the pulp from the penetration of toxic substances.

In the photo, the gray-pink fly agaric is presented in various forms, see the photo gallery. This will allow you to distinguish it from some of the edible species in the mushroom kingdom.

Fly agaric gray-pink (or blushing fly agaric) - the most edible of the fly agaric. Edible without pre-treatment. What does he look like? The main distinguishing features of the gray-pink fly agaric.

Hello dear reader!

Any fly agaric is a terribly poisonous mushroom! Everyone knows this. In general, this is one of the most common "mushroom myths". Of course, there are highly poisonous, even deadly poisonous species in the genus Amanita (). But still, many fly agaric mushrooms are medium, weakly or not poisonous at all!

There are conditionally edible fly agarics, there are also edible ones without any "conditionally". Among the latter is a gray-pink fly agaric (it is also blushing). It is also not seen in hallucinogenic properties.

After all, what is a "conditionally edible mushroom"? That's it - it must first be soaked, then salted. And after thirty days you can already eat. And the gray-pink fly agaric, brought from the forest and cleared of garbage, is immediately fried and consumed! It is better, however, to pre-boil. How do I do it with .

What is the gray-pink fly agaric in the forest?

Fruiting bodies of gray-pink fly agaric appear starting in July. And yet this mushroom is rather late summer and autumn (August - September).

I met these mushrooms in forests of various types: in, in a spruce-deciduous forest, and simply in deciduous copses. Last August, I found a rather large group of them on a plot of five by five meters in a copse on the border of the field.

Unfortunately, these gray-pink fly agarics were suitable only for a photo shoot - they were mostly old and wormy. Now I hope to get there sooner.

What are the distinguishing features of the gray-pink fly agaric?

This is what a gray-pink fly agaric may look like. This is a fairly young specimen, although the cap is already about 10 cm in size, and has unfolded. On the left in the corner, two more similar mushrooms are barely visible. Spruce-deciduous forest with oxalis.

Gray-pink, or blushing fly agaric

The color of the cap is usually various shades of gray and pink - hence the name of the mushroom. The middle of the hat is painted a little darker. On the hat - the usual "fly agaric" flakes, the remains of the bedspread. Although occasionally they may not be. They are grayish in color, but they are also white.

Looks delicious, don't you agree?

But this is a very young specimen, an inhabitant of a pine forest. A couple of pine cones tall. What are its features?

Handsome fly agaric gray-pink

Domed hat (later becomes almost flat). Thick stem with a thickening at the end. On the leg, even at the hat, there is a chic “skirt” - a ring. On the extension of the legs - the usual Volvo for fly agarics. But here she is grown. I'll show you more later.

The ring has a characteristic feature. It is ribbed. And along the edge it bears a semblance of fringe. The skirt is pleated!

Beautiful skirt of a young gray-pink fly agaric

And here is another young specimen with a beautiful skirt on the leg.

Here the folds on the ring are even more noticeable.

An adherent Volvo looks like several tuberculate layers on a leg. No "bag", "egg", etc.!

Several concentric accreted layers - volva

With age and growth of the fruiting body, the stem becomes thinner. And the ring loses its elegant look. This is a mature, even old, gray-pink fly agaric.

And this gray-pink is already old

In youth, after separation of the bedspread, the fly agaric plates are gray-pink white. Later, reddish spots appear on them.

Reddish spots on the plates are also a sign of gray-pink fly agaric

This mushroom is the only fly agaric that turns red when cut. For which he received another name - blushing fly agaric. Redness begins in the fungus almost immediately after cutting. The maximum intensity is reached in a couple of minutes. True, at the beginning of the season, everything happens more slowly. In dry weather, too.

If the fungus has been exposed to the action of larvae of mushroom flies or mosquitoes, then this reddening should not be expected at all. Of course, the mushroom in the photo is no longer subject to collection.

Even insects eat this fly agaric!

The main differences between the gray-pink fly agaric and other representatives of the genus: redness when cut, beautiful ribbed rings (in young mushrooms), active eating by insects.

Similar species

In my opinion, to confuse a gray-pink fly agaric with a moderately poisonous one, especially with a highly poisonous one, can only be not just an inattentive, but only a careless mushroom picker! Although you should always be careful with mushrooms!

Somewhat more similar to the poisonous panther fly agaric. His hats are also more often gray tones. But when cutting the panther fly agaric never blush! And at the base of the panther leg, if it is completely removed, there is a very impressive thickening - the “bulb”.

How is fly agaric gray-pink used?

It can be fried immediately, without boiling. It's better, though, to boil it anyway. What if, due to inattention and haste, you push one red one?

The taste, according to different sources, is contradictory. I did not take single ones, and last year's find of a group of mostly worms did not satisfy my curiosity. Some people like it, some don't. So I'm waiting for comments that have tried the gray-pink fly agaric.

It is better to take any unfamiliar mushrooms under the guidance of an experienced mushroom picker!

Kira Stoletova

Fly agaric gray pink belongs to the mushroom genus of the same name from the Amanitaceae family. Unlike most fly agarics, the variety is conditionally edible.

Botanical characteristic

The mushroom cap grows from 6 to 20 cm, more often it does not reach more than 15 cm in diameter. Initially, it has the shape of a hemisphere, later it becomes convex, and in overripe mushrooms it becomes flat prostrate. The tubercle in the central part is not observed or it is weakly expressed and almost invisible.

The hat is gray-pink, sometimes there are adult specimens with a red-brown color. Covered with warty or membranous fragments like fly agaric flakes, ranging in color from white to dark pink and brown. The skin on the cap is slightly sticky, with a characteristic sheen.

The gray-pink fly agaric has several synonyms: blushing and pearly.

Mushroom pulp is white, which, when mechanically affected, acquires a light pink color, then becomes a contrasting red. The structure is fleshy or thin-meaty. It has a mild taste in the absence of a special smell.

The species has the feature of blushing on the cut, hence its name.

The mushroom leg has the shape of a cylinder 3 to 10 cm high, sometimes grows up to 20 cm, 1.5-3.0 cm thick. Initially, the leg has a solid structure, becoming hollow as it grows. Surface with tubercles, smooth or powdery, color from white to pink with purple. The lower part is thickened, often an object for insects, as a result of which stained passages appear in the fungus. On the expanded tuberous part of the mushroom stem, the volva inherent in the fly agaric genus, weakly expressed, consists of one or more rings.

Refers to basidiomycetes that reproduce by spores formed in club-shaped basidia.

Hymenophore plates are white, often planted, wide in size, free from stems. With mechanical action, they begin to turn red. The fungus has a wide ring formed from the remains of the bedspread. In structure, it is membranous, hanging down.

Geography of distribution

This fly agaric is common in areas where deciduous and coniferous trees grow, forming with them symbiotic associations of fungal mycelium with their root system (mycorrhiza), especially with birches and pines.

The fruiting period begins in early spring and continues until the late autumn season, mass fruiting is observed between July and October.

Able to grow on soils of various types. It occurs throughout the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere, with the exception of the North American continent. Since the last century, it has appeared in South Africa, where it was brought by Europeans. Grows in small colonies or singly.

Similar varieties

According to the description, the pearl fly agaric in nature has several similar mushrooms that are poisonous:

• panther - it always has white mushroom pulp, the size is already a smooth ring, the base of the leg is different from the gray-pink appearance in shape;
• thick - has a gray mushroom pulp, which does not change color when exposed to air, it also has an unpleasant odor and an earthy taste.

Gastronomic qualities

Pearl fly agaric is considered a conditionally edible mushroom, however, it is unsuitable for food when fresh. In the chemical composition of the raw blushing fly agaric, there are thermolabile substances that have a toxic effect on human health. More often it is consumed in a fried form after a long preliminary boiling with frequent water changes. Let's say for marinades and pickles.