AMANITA. The amanitas include some of the most showy representatives of the Agaricineae or mushroom order of fungi (q.v.). In the first stages of growth, they are completely en veloped by an outer covering called the veil. As the plant de velops the veil is ruptured; the lower portion forms a sheath or volva round the base of the stem, while the upper portion persists as white patches or scales or warts on the surface of the cap.
The stern usually bears an upper ring of tissue, the remains of an inner veil, that stretched from the stem to the edge of the cap and broke away from the cap as the latter expanded. The pres ence of the volva, and the clear white gills and spores, distin guish this genus from all other agarics. They are beautiful ob jects in the autumn woods; Amanita muscaria, the fly fungus, formerly known as Agaricus mus carius, being especially remark able for, its bright red cap cov ered with white warts. Others are pure white or of varying shades of yellow or green. Several of the species are exceedingly poisonous.