Destroying angel
Amanita virosa · 鳞柄白鹅膏
Rare鹅膏科☠️ Deadly Poisonous
Reference sources describe this as highly toxic, with recorded fatalities.
The same species can be described differently across regions and stages of maturity, and countless look-alike species cannot be told apart by eye. Never use the information on this page to judge whether a real mushroom is safe to eat.
How to Tell
- Entirely white, with a large white sac-like volva at the stem base
- Cap smooth, without scales, faintly silky at maturity
- Gills stay white and never turn pink, unlike similar Agaricus mushrooms
ID notes are compiled by AI from public sources, not reviewed by a mycologist, for learning only — never a basis for foraging.
Basics
- Family
- 鹅膏科
- Hymenium
- Gills
- Grows On
- Mycorrhizal
- How Big
- 5–12 cm (cap diameter)
- Encounter Rate
- Rare
- Habitat
- Ground in oak and birch woods
Easily Confused With
Button mushroomButton mushroom's gills turn pink then brown and it has no volva; destroying angel's gills stay white and its base sits in a volva.
Field mushroomField mushroom's gills turn pink then dark brown, with no volva; destroying angel's gills are pure white and it has a volva.
Horse mushroomHorse mushroom has pinkish-brown gills, bruises yellow and smells of aniseed; destroying angel has pure white gills and no odour.Fun Fact
Pure white all over, with both a ring and a volva. Its biggest difference from edible field mushrooms is a white spore print and gills that never turn brown.
More in this family
- American Caesar
- Caesar's mushroom
- Death cap
- East Asian death cap
- East Asian yellow death cap
- False death cap
- Fly agaric
- Grisette
- Half-dyed slender caesar
- Panther cap
- Smith's amanita
- The blusher