Cap yellowish, or orange.
Scales on cap and at base of stem white; stem and gills white (natural
size). Copyright.]

The =pileus= passes from convex to expanded and nearly flat in age, the
margin when mature is marked by depressed lines forming parallel
striations, and on the surface are numbers of scattered floccose or
rather compact scales, formed from the fragments of the upper part of
the volva or outer veil. These scales are usually white in color and are
quite easily removed, so that old plants are sometimes quite free from
them. The scales are sometimes yellowish in color. The color of the
pileus varies from yellow to orange, or even red, the yellow color being
more common. Late in the season the color is paler, and in old plants
also the color fades out, so that white forms are sometimes found. The
flesh is white, sometimes yellowish underneath the cuticle. The =gills=
in typical forms are white, in some forms accredited to this species
they are yellowish. The =stem= is cylindrical, hollow, or stuffed when
young, and enlarged below into a prominent bulb. It is white, covered
with loose floccose scales, or more or less lacerate or torn, and the
lower part of the stem and upper part of the bulb are marked usually by
prominent concentric scales forming interrupted rings. These are formed
by the splitting of the outer veil or volva, and form the remnants of
the volva present on the base of the stem.

The main features in the development of the plant are shown in Figs.
52--54, where a series from the button stage to the mature plant is
represented. In the youngest specimens the outline of the bulb and the
young convex or nearly globose cap are only seen, and these are covered
with the more or less floccose outer veil or volva. The fungus threads
composing this layer cease to grow, and with the expansion of the cap
and the elongation of the stem, the volva is torn into patches. The
upper and lower surface of the inner veil is attached to the edge of the
gills and to the outer surface of the stem by loose threads, which are
torn asunder as the pileus expands. Floccose scales are thus left on the
surface of the stem below the annulus, as in the left hand plant of Fig.
53. The veil remains attached longer to the gills and is first separated
from the stem. Again, as in the right hand plant, it may first be
separated from the gills when it is later ripped up from the stem.

The fly agaric is one of the well known poisono