Figure 63.—Amanita floccocephala (natural size). Copyright.
Amanita velatipes Atkinson. Properties Unknown.—This plant is very interesting since it shows in a striking manner the peculiar way in which the veil is formed in some of the species of Amanita. Though not possessing brilliant colors, it is handsome in its form and in the peculiar setting of the volva fragments on the rich brown or faint yellow of the pileus. It has been found on several occasions during the month of July in a beech woods on one of the old flood plains of Six-mile creek, one of the gorges in the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y. The mature plant is from 15–20 cm. high, the cap from 8–10 cm. broad, and the stem 1–1.5 cm. in thickness.
The pileus is viscid when moist, rounded, then broadly oval and convex to expanded, striate on the margin, sometimes in old plants the margin is elevated. It is smooth throughout, and of a soft, rich hair brown, or umber brown color, darker in the center. Sometimes there is a decided but dull maize yellow tinge over the larger part of the pileus, but even then the center is often brown in color, shading into the yellow color toward the margin; the light yellow forms in age, often thinning out to a cream color. The flesh of the pileus is rather thin, even in the center, and becomes very thin toward the margin, as shown in Fig. [67]. The scales on the pileus are more or less flattened, rather thin, clearly separated from the pileus, and easily removed. They are more or less angular, and while elongated transversely at first, become nearly isodiametric as the pileus becomes fully expanded, passing from an elongated form to rectangular, or sinuous in outline, the margin more or less upturned, especially in age, when they begin to loosen and "peel" from the surface of the cap. They are lighter in color than the pileus and I have never observed the yellow tint in them. The gills are white, broad at the middle, about 1 cm., and taper gradually toward each end. The spores are usually inequilaterally oval, 8–10 × 6–7 µ, granular when young, when mature with a large oil drop.
Plate 15, Figure 64.—Amanita velatipes (3/4 natural size). Cap hair-brown, or umber-brown, sometimes with tinge of lemon yellow, or entirely maize-yellow. Scales, gills, and stem white. Copyright.
Figure 65.—Amanita velatipes. Different stages of "buttons," in the right-hand plant the upper part of the volva separating to form the scales (natural size). Copyright.
The stem is cylindrical, somewhat bulbous, the bulb often tapering abruptly, as shown in Figs. [64], [66]. The stem is white, smooth, or floccose scaly where the veil has been ripped off from it. It is hollow and stuffed with loose cottony threads, as shown in Fig. [67]. The veil is formed by the ripping up of the outer layer of the stem as the latter elongates and as the pileus expands. When it is freed from the margin of the cap it collapses and hangs downward as a broad collar (Fig. [64]). The annulus is inferior, its position on the stem being due to the peculiar way in which it is formed.