(20 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
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White False Death Cap
Inedible 
Autumn 
Summer 
Although this mushroom looks like a deadly Amanita it is edible if you like the taste of raw potatoes.
| Mushroom Type | |
| Common Names | White False Death Cap |
| Scientific Name | Amanita citrina var. alba |
| Season Start | Jul |
| Season End | Nov |
| Average Mushroom height (CM) | 7-11 |
| Average Cap width (CM) | 6-10 |
Cap
6-10 cm. A pure white cap with white patches of veil that can discolour to a tan-oche.
Gills
Gills white, free of the stem and fairly crowded.
Stem
7-11 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm diameter. Pure white with an obvious volval sack and a bulbous base. The stem can be hollow in older specimens.
Skirt
Superior. The skirt is quite large.
Volva
A large obvious, marginate volva.
Flesh
White.
Habitat
Mixed woodland especially with Beech.
Possible Confusion
The Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa), pictured, or the Deathcap (Amanita phalloides), it is because of this possible confusion and its vile taste that we leave this mushroom well alone. Although edible, not one for the table.
Spore Print
White. Spherical.
Taste / Smell
Unpleasant, like raw potato.
Frequency
Common.
10 comments for White False Death Cap
I recommend changing the symbol for ‘type of mushroom: Edible’ to ‘Inedible’ as the taste is referred to as vile in the comments.
Hi Kc, I think you are right, we added the inedible section long after we put the False Death Cap up so I will change it. Eric.
I found this mushroom and I was wondering as an app I have says it give a hallucinogenic effect. Does it actually have a hallucinogenic toxins in it??
I would not trust any mushroom app as it is near on impossible to ID many of our UK mushrooms from photos alone so how a computer can be accurate I don’t know.
Recent research has shown that Amanita citrina has some bufonic (toad) accid in it, i.e. is mildly poisonous.
Recent research has shown that Amanita citrina has some bufonic (toad) accid in it, i.e. is mildly poisonous.
I found 100 mushroom due to rain can I eat them white look like the picture White False Death Cap but I live southern New Mexico any clues I wish I could show a picture but it don’t let me
I don’t know the mushrooms in New Mexico but if it looks like an Amanita, the Deathcap family, and you can’t ID it, don’t eat it.
Hi. I’m new to this site so I hope I am welcome, and don’t need to be a member or anything. I have found a great many False death caps, but nearby I found a couple that are fully open but still have sheets of tattered veil hanging from the perimeter of the cap, but significantly, no trace of a ring. They are very white apart from the browning patches of veil on the cap. I am practically certain that they must be Var alba, but I am bothered that there is not a trace of a ring on the stems. Could they be anything else? There are two together, both the same.
Thanks for any help
Ian West
The mushrooms in question may be one of the Grisettes, they don’t have skirts and there are white Grisettes. Another way to tell the two apart is the volva, False Death Caps have large bulbous volvas, Grisettes have a thin sheath or cup like volva.