Amanita rubescens

English: Blusher caps; The blusher.
Name: rubescens means reddening.
Clades: Amanitaceae; Agaricales; Agaricomycetes; Basidiomycota; Fungi
Region: Europe, North America; introduced in South Africa.
Habitat: hardwood and softwood trees, conifer forests; on poor acidic soils.
Content: hemolytic toxin, destroyed if cooked thoroughly.
Use: edible, if well cooked.MycologyIdentification: blush when bruised or cut.
Type: tremendous variability; smell quite unpleasant when old; grows mostly in small groups; fruiting June to October.
Cap: white, changes to pinkish red, brown, almost black, when cut, damaged, exposed to air; variably reddish, brown, bright metallic silver; 5 to 20 cm diameter; with irregularly distributed, off-white or grey fragments of the universal veil, washed off in very wet weather; initially domed, flattening at maturity, occasionally slightly funnel-shaped.
Hymenium: gills are white, marked with pink or rusty red spots, very quickly blush pink or dull red when injured; adnate to almost free of the stem, crowded.
Stem: white above the stem ring but reddish-brown, often with deep pink flecks, below the stem ring; pink when cut, bruised; 7 to 15 cm long, 1 to 2 cm diameter; hollow with age; ring quite thin; fragile, usually grooved, often ragged, hanging; volva only seen when very young.
Spore print: white; basidia 4-spored.
Spores: broadly ellipsoidal to ovoid; smooth; 8 by 5 µm; amyloid.