East Asian death cap
Amanita fuliginea · 灰花纹鹅膏
Rarely Seen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
- Cap dark gray to grayish brown, with radiating dark fibrils
- Stem white with grayish scales; base has a white sac-like volva
- Gills white; upper stem has a white ring
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
- 5–10 cm (cap diameter)
- Encounter Rate
- Rarely Seen
- Habitat
- Oak woodland in southern China
Easily Confused With
GrisetteGrisette has no ring and a clearly striate cap margin; East Asian death cap has a ring and a smooth margin.
Death capStem base has a white cup-shaped volva, often buried under leaf litterFun Fact
It ranks first among mushroom-poisoning deaths in China. Its cap is a dull, unassuming grayish-brown — proof that 'only bright colors are dangerous' is simply false.
More in this family
- American Caesar
- Caesar's mushroom
- Destroying angel
- East Asian yellow death cap
- False death cap
- Fly agaric
- Half-dyed slender caesar
- Panther cap
- Smith's amanita
- The blusher