A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
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death cap
The death cap is Amanita phalloides, a medium-sized mushroom with a smooth greenish to yellowish cap, white gills, a white ring on the stem, and a cup at the base that is usually buried and has to be dug for. It is responsible for most of the world’s fatal mushroom poisonings. Nothing about it looks alarming, it tastes fine, and cooking does not affect the compounds involved, so identification is the entire defense.
Etymology
The English name is nineteenth century and blunt. The Latin is odder: phalloides means phallus-shaped, and it refers to the young mushroom emerging from its egg-like sac, which is the same stage that gives the stinkhorns their name. Amanita probably comes from a Greek word used for mushrooms in general, possibly after Mount Amanus in what is now southern Turkey.
Notes
The species is European and traveled to North America, Australia, and South Africa on the roots of imported trees, particularly cork oak and chestnut, so it turns up under planted oaks in California and around old estates far from any forest. Two rules cover most of the risk: dig the base of every white-gilled mushroom rather than cutting it, and take a spore print.