Pretty Poison(ous) Fall Mushrooms

Amanita for sure.

Veil hangs off the cap's edge -- like a slip showing.

Shreds of a veil.

Two weeks ago, edibles were widely available, but today's pass through the woods showed me some strange and beautiful fungi that, after I looked them up, I found belonged to the Amanita family. Avoid this deadly family. Its mushrooms can be white, yellow, orange, red, gray, brown, or greenish. Gorgeous but poisonous. How are these Amanitas although they look so different? They show family characteristics. If you see even ONE of these characteristics, stay away.

1. Amanitas grow from a bulbous base.
2. Amanitas have a thin "veil" from the stem to edges that tears and shreds as the mushroom grows. Often, there are shreds left hanging, like a slip showing. Often, there's a ring around the stem where the veil was attached.
3. Amanita caps often have pimples or scales, or they look as if they were salted with flake salt or peppered.
4. Some Amanitas have shaggy stems.

These are from the woods, but Amanitas also appear in lawns and in mulch bought from garden stores.

Pizza Cheese

Nice wet woods today, growing thickly with greenery now, showed me for the first time in life this supposedly autumn-only fungus, Philiota limonella, or yellow philiota. They're gregarious and saprobic (meaning they feed on dead wood) and their toast-colored scales also look to me like the cheese broiled on top of a pizza or tuna casserole, or that drips from a grilled-cheese sandwich. That shows you where my mind is at. These are not edible. I picked one to look beneath its cap so I could do a better mushroom I.D. As usual, if I've misidentified, please let me know.