Amanita calyptroderma
PEAK FRUITING MONTHS
SIMILAR SPECIES: Amanita vernicoccora
CRITICAL ID FEATURES: Bronze to yellow-brown cap with a thick white veil patch (sometimes broken into smaller warts), grooved cap margin, creamy gills, partial veil, thick white saccate volva, and hollow or stuffed stipe.
NUTRITIONAL STRATEGY: Ectomycorrhizal with live oak and other trees.
EDIBILITY: Edible and quite good, but the slightly fishy flavor is not consistently popular.
COMMENTS: Amanita vernicoccora is very similar, but fruits in spring (rarely in fall), and has an evenly pallid yellow cap. Amanita phalloides is a theoretical confusion species, but has an ungrooved cap margin (except occasionally in age), a greenish cap usually without a veil patch, and usually a solid stipe.