organism lies beneath the ground as a symbiotic partner to certain species of trees. The fruit body of the fungus is a reproductive structure that appears when appropriate environmental conditions of moisture, temperature, and nutrient availability are met. The cap of A. regalis is broad, and, depending on the stage of its development, can range in shape from spherical to convex to somewhat flattened. The color is yellowish brown, and it is densely covered with yellowish to light ochraceous scabby warts, which are arranged in almost regular concentric rings. The rings are a remnant of the volva left behind during expansion of the young fruit body. The cap is fleshy and when mature has grooves on the margin, which can extend . The cap cuticle may be separated from the cap by peeling, to almost the center. The gills are crowded close together, free from attachment to the stem, and white with a creamy yellow tinge. The edges of the gills are floccose, meaning they have tufts of soft wooly hairs—another volval remnant. The stem of a mature individual is typically between long and wide, and spreads at the base into a bulb ornamented with 2–4 rings of small squamulose, lemon or ochre-yellow warts. The entire stem and ring are not pure white but have a faint yellowish tinge. The flesh is whitish, faintly yellowish in the stem, and golden yellow under the cuticle of the cap. It does not change color in air, and has an insignificant taste and smell. Microscopic features The spores are broadly ellipsoid to roughly spherical, hyaline (translucent), smooth, and have dimensions of 9–12 by 7–8 µm. They are non-amyloid, meaning that they do not absorb iodine when stained with Melzer's reagent. The spore-producing cells, the basidia, are club-shaped, measure 38–46 by 3–13 µm, and have clamps at their bases. Similar species Amanita regalis is easily distinguished from A. muscaria by the absence of any red color in the cap, and the yellow patches on the stem. If it is a form that has a pale-colored, yellowish-brown cap, Amanita regalis may be confused with the blusher (Amanita rubescens, edible). The latter species can be identified by the flesh-colored tinge it stains when cut or bruised, and also by the color of the flesh underneath the cuticle: A. regalis is yellowish while A. rubescens is white. Amanita pantherina has a similar color, but has white flesh