In article , wrote:

They are almost certainly Agaricus/Psalliota (i.e. common
mushrooms), but one of the key rules of picking those is
not to pick them until they have started to open and their
gills are a very definite pinkish brown. The chances of
including an Amanita are very low, but the cost of doing
so is vast. And, yes, you CAN get a single Amanita growing
amoung a mass of Agaricus.

So what's the key to the difference between the two?
I hadn't realised amanita were very similar to the common. I'm
guessing you're specifically thinking of the death cap? And
from the picture here I'm guessing the differences are the gill
colour is white/pale, and stem bag?

Warning: as I said earlier, field mushrooms are among the most
dangerous, as you need skill to identify them safely. I am NOT
giving enough advice in the following to do that, but only
enough to respond to the post.

Amanita (and phalloides is not the only lethal one - there are
also verna and virosa) have white gills and a volva (the stem
bag). But the latter can easy disappear for many reasons, so
the critical test is that the gills are VERY clearly pinkish
brown to chocolate brown and a secondary is that there is no
volva. And you need to be careful to distinguish discoloured
whitish gills from pink ones, which is where there is no
substitute for being shown the difference.



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.