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Grisette
(Amanita vaginata) |
 Sheathed Knife |
 Grisette sculpture, acrylic paint |
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The grisette is a gray amanita, and gris means gray in French. The word grisette is also 19th century French slang for a working class woman much more conducive to physical intimacy than her middle class counterpart (we won't discuss the behavior of the French upper class here!)
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 Grisette Cap Note the darkened, raised central knob, and the radial lines ending at the cap's margin. |
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The gills are free from the stalk. They're white, and so is the spore print.
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 Grisette Gills The gills are free—there's a space between the beginning of the gills and the stalk. |
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The whitish-gray, slender stalk is 4-8 inches long. Unlike many other amanitas, the grisette and its close relatives have no partial veil covering the immature gills, and no subsequent ring encircling the stalk.
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Grisette, side view
Unlike many other amanitas, no ring ever encircles the grisette's stalk. |
| Its base is surrounded by a sac-like cup, hence the species name, vaginata, which means sheath in Latin. |  |
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You can find grisettes in open woods or in grass or on lawns near trees throughout North America, all summer on the east coast, and from November to February on the west coast.
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 Sack-like Sheath Surrounding Stalk Base For a mushroom hunter, this sack is like the rattle of a rattlesnake! |
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Although it may be nonpoisonous, and some people, particularly in France, have eaten it and lived to tell, it has many varieties, as well as similar-looking close relatives of unknown toxicity. Some of these may be deadly. This is not a safe mushroom to eat. |