Wanted: Amanita smithiana
October 30, 2024
Dr. Colleen Cowdery of the Oregon Poison Center is seeking samples of Amanita smithiana (Smith’s Amanita) for a toxicology study. Amanita smithiana is a West Coast mushroom, first described from Olympic Hot Springs, Washington. It’s sometimes confused with the edible Tricholoma murrillianum (Western Matsutake), with near deadly consequences.
If you’re interested in helping, please read Dr. Cowdery’s letter appended below. Please also review the photos for A. smithiana, which is fruting now, and a close look-alike, A. silvicola (Woodland Amanita) also fruiting now, so that you can avoid sending Dr. Cowdery samples of the latter.
Amanita smithiana has an longer tapered, spindle-shaped or somewhat bulbous base.
A. silvicola is shorter and has an abrubtly bulbous base.
— Joe Cohen
AMANITA SMITHIANA STUDY: FORAGING HELP NEEDED!
Hello!
My name is Dr. Colleen Cowdery; I’m currently one of the medical toxicologists working at the Oregon Poison Center.
There’s very little written about Amanita smithiana mushrooms in the medical literature to date and I’d love to change that! In order to do this, I need to get my hands on some smithianas, and I (sadly) am not an experienced forager. I am hoping to collect samples from a range of locations and range of maturities, and any help that you can provide would be immensely appreciated!!!
I am developing a study to try to describe a natural range of concentrations of allenic norleucine, a nephrotoxic compound found in Amanita smithiana. If possible, I’d also like to characterize concentrations of chlorocrotylglycine, another suspect molecule that may be a culprit toxin, but currently that’s a little difficult as it’s not a molecule that’s typically looked for. I plan to confirm mushroom identification using PCR and then send the samples to a collaborator for quantification of allenic norleucine (and possible chlorocrotylglycine). Ideally, I would like a number of immature as well as fully matured smithianas, to see if the concentrations change as the mushroom ages.
If you are interested in helping this study, please consider collecting any Amanita smithiana mushrooms you happen upon, with the following steps:
- Take in situ photographs and upload them onto iNaturalist with location data. If you are able to include notes about the immediate surroundings of the mushroom, that would also be helpful! (e.g., what trees was it growing near, general habitat, etc.)
- Weigh the mushroom.
- Dehydrate the mushroom.
- Place in package with a slip of paper that indicates the iNaturalist observation number and pre-dehydration weight of the mushroom. You may also include your name and whether or not you wish for the relevant iNaturalist photographs to potentially be included in a future publication regarding this research. In the absence of explicit permission, your photographs will not be used. If you chose to not attach specific location data to the iNaturalist observation for any reason, please consider indicating which state/county the mushroom was found in!
- Mail to:
Oregon Poison Center
Attn: Colleen Cowdery
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, CSB 550
Portland, OR 97239
Thank you so much!
