Everything about Amanita Caesarea totally explained
Amanita caesarea, commonly known in English as
Caesar's Mushroom, is a highly regarded edible
mushroom in the
genus Amanita, native to southern
Europe and North Africa. It has a distinctive orange cap, yellow gills and stem. Similar orange-capped species occur in North America and India. It was known to and valued by the Ancient Romans, who called it
Boletus, a name now applied to a very different type of fungus.
Taxonomy and naming
Amanita caesarea was first described by Italian
mycologist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772 as
Agaricus caesareus, before later being placed in
Amanita by
Persoon. The common name comes from its being a favorite of the
Roman emperors, which took the name
Caesar (originally a
family name) as a title. The Romans called it
Bōlētus, derived from the
Ancient Greek βωλιτης for this fungus as named by
Galen. Several modern common names recognise this heritage with the English Caesar's mushroom and royal amanita, French
impériale,
Polish cesarski and
German Kaiserling. In
Italian, it's
ovolo (pl.
ovoli), due to its resemblance to an egg when very young. Other common names include
Amanite de César and
Oronge.
It has also been classified as
A. umbonata.
A. hemibapha is a similar species originally described from
India, and this name has sometimes been applied to North American collections. The relationship of the similar
North American species
A. arkansana and
A. jacksonii to
A. caesarea isn't clear. The edibility of some of these similar species is also unclear, though
A. jacksonii is eaten by many and there have been no reports of illness from it.
Description
This mushroom has an orange-red
cap, initially hemispherical before convex and finally flat. The surface is smooth, and margins striated, and it can reach 15 (6 in) or rarely 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. The free
gills are pale to golden yellow, as is the cylinder-shaped
stipe, which is 8-15 cm (3-6 in) tall and 2-3 cm (appr. 1 in) wide. The ring hangs loosely and is lined above and smooth below. The base of the stipe is thicker than the top and is seated in a greyish-white cup-like
volva, which is a remnant of
universal veil. The
spores are white.
It could be confused with the poisonous fly agaric (
Amanita muscaria), which has a red cap dotted with white warts, though these have been known to have been washed off after heavy rain. The latter mushroom will always have white gills and stalk rather than yellow, and a ringed volva.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Amanita Caesarea'.
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