-Twenty-three species and varieties of Amanita and one species of Limacella are reported from collections of members of the Family Amanitaceae (Order Agaricales) from three units of the Big Thicket National Preserve and adjoining portions of Southeast Texas. Approximately 290 species and subspecies of the Order Agaricales have been reported to occur in Texas. The majority of these were reported by Thiers (1956a, 1956b, 1957, 1958, 1959a, 1959b), who listed 200 species from east-central and East Texas, including 30 previously undescribed species. Restivo (1971) listed 80 species collected from the Nacogdoches area, 24 of which were first reports from Texas. Seventeen agarics from east-central Texas were collected on the 1967 foray of the Mycological Society of America (Cooke, 1971). A few Texas collections have been reported in works by Smith (1937, 1939, 1944, 1947, 1960, 1972), Smith and Hesler (1962, 1968), Smith and Singer (1964), Hesler (1969), Hesler and Smith (1960a, 1960b, 1963, 1965, 1979), Bigelow (1977), Shaffer (1964, 1970), Bas (1969), and Jenkins (1977). None of these authors, however, has more than casually studied Southeast Texas agarics. In fact, except for Murrill's (1972) and Singer's (1975, 1977) works in Florida and Thiers' (1956a, 1956b, 1957, 1958, 1959a, 1959b, 1963) works in Texas, the entire Gulf Coast has been one of the least studied areas for agarics in North America. The Big Thicket National Preserve and surrounding areas of Southeast Texas are ideally suited for growth of fleshy fungi. An annual rainfall of 50 to 60 inches, the diversity of several geological formations and soil types, mild winters, and humid summers stimulate luxuriant and varied plant growth. The present study concentrates on members of the Family Amanitaceae which have been collected mainly from the Beaumont, Lance Rosier, and Big Sandy Units of the Big Thicket National Preserve and adjoining areas of Orange and Jefferson counties over the last 3 years. Twenty-three species and varieties of Amanita and a single species of Limacella were collected. Specimens are deposited in the Lamar University Herbarium at Beaumont, Texas. The family Amanitaceae includes medium to occasionally small or large agarics which are covered during development by a universal veil, a portion of which remains as a volva surrounding the stipe and as particles or warts on the pileus after the mushroom has expanded. The gills are free from the stipe and an annulus remains attached to the stipe in many amanitas. White spore prints, smooth and thin-walled spores, and a divergent gill trama are characteristic of the family. The Amanitaceae contains two genera, Amanita and Limacella, the latter being distinguished by a glutinous universal veil. FEBRUARY 21, 1981 THE SOUTHWESTERN NATU ALIST 26(1): 1-4 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.191 on Tue, 11 Oct 2016 04:32:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Southwestern Naturalist ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES.-A single asterisk denotes a first report of the species in Texas; two asterisks, a first report of the genus in Texas. *Amanita abrupta Peck. DPL-1129. Common from August to September. *A. aestivalis Singer. DPL-922. Found once in May. *A. atkinsoniana Coker. DPL-1208. Occasionally found in the fall. *A. bisporigera Atk. DPL-971. Found in the spring. A. brunnescens Atk. DPL-146, DPL-517. Common throughout East Texas from spring to the fall. A. caesarea (Fr.) Schw. DPL-1115, DPL-1134. Common during the summer. *A. citrina var. lavendula Coker. DPL-747. A very common species during the late fall and early winter. A. farinosa Schw. DPL-1131. An occasionally found summer mushroom. A. flavoconia Atk. DPL-930, DPL-952, DPL-969. One of the most common amanitas in East Texas where it is found from early spring to early winter. A. flavorubescens Atk. DPL114. Occasionally found during the summers. *A. inaurata Secr. DPL-995. Common from spring to the fall. *A. lividia S. F. Gray. DPL1149. A common summer mushroom. *A. microlepis Bas. DPL-1013. Found occasionally in the summer. A. muscaria var. flavivolvata Singer (Jenkins). DPL-746. Very common during the late fall in loblolly pine woods. *A. polypyramis (Berk. 8c Curt.) Sacc. DPL-1615, DPL-1648. Common in the fall. *A. pragraveolens (Murrill) Singer. DPL-600. Found during the summer. *A. pubescens Schw. DPL-1113. Found once in the summer. A. rubescens (Pers. ex Fr.) S. F. Gray. DPL-932, DPL-941, DPL-970. Commonly found from spring through fall. A. spissa (Fr.) Quel. DPL-1128, DPL-1136, DPL-1137, DPL-1 148. A common summer mushroom. *A. spissa var. alba Coker. DPL-1143. Found once in September. A. verna (Bull. ex Fr.) Pers. ex Vitt. DPL-1036. Common from spring to fall. A. virosa Secr. DPL-578, DPL-1008. Very common from spring and into the fall. *A. virosiformis Murrill. DPL-1041. Occasionally found during the summer. **Limacella illinita (Fr.) Earle. DPL-1550. Common during the summer on lawns. DISCUSSION.-The amanitas were found to be an important part of the mushroom flora of the Big Thicket. When compared to other areas, the diversity is greater than that of Michigan (Kauffman, 1918) and is similar to the flora of North Carolina and Florida as reported, respectively, by Coker (1917) and Murrill (1948). However, the occurrence of 13 species of Amanita and the genus Limacella which are previously unreported from Texas certainly indicate the uniqueness of the diverse Big Thicket habitat and the need for further study of its flora. According to Singer (1975), the fruiting pattern of the agarics is highly seasonal in boreal and temperate regions and in parts of the tropics. This was especially true of the Big Thicket flora and three basic fruiting patterns were observed for the amanitas. From May to July, the flora was represented by species such as A. flavoconia, A. verna, A. virosa, A. rubescens, A. brunnescens, and A. inaurata. However, these species continue fruiting sporadically throughout the summer and, sometimes, during the fall. The humid summer months have their own unique flora and A. abrupta, A. caesarea, A. farinosa, A. flavorubescens, A. lividia, A. microlepis, A. pragraveolens, A. spissa, A. virosiformis, and several others are found. The cooler, dryer fall months have a flora consisting of A. atkinsoniana, A. citrina var. lavendula, A. muscaria var. flavivolvata, and A. polypyramis. Most amanitas are obligatorily ectomycorrhizal except for many species of the section Lepidella (Singer, 1975). No definite mycorrhizal associations were found in this study, but A. muscaria and A. citrina prefer loblolly pine 2 vol. 26, no. 1 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.191 on Tue, 11 Oct 2016 04:32:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Lewis and McGraw-Big Thicket Agaricales woods. Most of the other amanitas collected were found in mixed pinehardwood forests. Amanita pragraveolens, a member of the section Lepidella, was found fruiting only on open lawns. Several of the listed species have been only rarely reported in the literature. Amanita pubescens has only been reported from North Carolina (Coker, 1917) and Florida (Murrill, 1948). Amanita virosiformis and A. prograveolens have only been reported from Florida (Murrill, 1941, 1948). Several characteristics of the Southeast Texas material differed from what was reported in the literature. Amanita pragraveolens has white lamellae, according to Bas (1969), while the Texas material has creamy lamellae. Limacella illinita, according to Kauffman (1918), was reported to be odorless; the Texas material has a farinaceous odor. Spore sizes generally fell within the ranges reported in the literature. Several groups of the Texas amanitas need further taxonomic work. This is especially true of the A. verna and A. virosa group which, according to Ammirati et al. (1977), is variable throughout North America. Since members of this group contain extremely toxic metabolic products and are common in the Big Thicket, indiscriminate use of these mushrooms for food could have fatal consequences. Amanita flavoconia was found to be highly variable in both cap and stipe color and a critical study of this agaric would be desirable. Also, the A. vaginata group, which includes A. lividia, is variable in cap color and needs further work. Section Lepidella, in which Bas (1969) recognized 93 species, was well represented in the Big Thicket flora. However, only five species, A. abrupta, A. atkinsoniana, A. microlepis, A. polypyramis, and A. pragraveolens, were determined and more study is needed on members of this section. Appreciation is expressed to Dr. Alexander Smith of the University of Michigan Herbarium for confirmation and suggestions on many of the specimens.