How to tell Blusher from Grey veiled amanita
How they differ, how to recognize them and which is more dangerous — a mushroom comparison
Warning: Grey veiled amanita(Amanita porphyria)
POISONOUS
Eating it causes poisoning. Do not pick it unless you have identified it with certainty.
It contains ibotenic acid and muscimol — neurotoxins acting on GABA-A and glutamate receptors in the central nervous system. Symptoms appear 30 min - 2 h after eating: disorientation, hallucinations, euphoria or anxiety, muscle spasms (ataxia), nausea, vomiting, tachycardia, mydriasis (dilated pupils), and in severe cases — seizures, delirium, coma. Lasts 6-12 hours, sometimes up to a full day. Deaths are rare (unlike the deadly destroying angel and death cap), but the poisonings are severe and require hospitalization.
What to do if you suspect poisoning: call an ambulance immediately. Gastric lavage, activated charcoal (repeated doses). IV fluid therapy, monitoring. For seizures — benzodiazepines (diazepam). Do NOT use atropine — it is contraindicated in this type of poisoning (there is no muscarine here). Treatment lasts 1-3 days, usually followed by full recovery.
Prevention: no mushroom with a ring + a volva goes into the basket. Skip any gray-purple, violet or lilac gilled mushroom under pines and spruces.
If you suspect poisoning, call an ambulance immediately: 112 (the European emergency number) or your local emergency number
The short answer
Blusher and Grey veiled amanita look alike, so they're easy to mix up — but Blusher is conditionally edible, while Grey veiled amanita is poisonous. The main visible difference: use: Blusher — cook fresh, pickling, Grey veiled amanita — not eaten. The mushrooms also differ in the following features: cap color, cap surface, taste. If you have even the slightest doubt, leave the mushroom be.
Blusher
Amanita rubescens
Grey veiled amanita
Amanita porphyria
📊 Comparing characteristics
⚠ Highlighted rows are the key differences between the edible and the dangerous mushroom
| Characteristic | Blusher | Grey veiled amanita |
|---|---|---|
| ⚠ Edibility class | Blusher Conditionally edible | Grey veiled amanita Poisonous |
| Season | Blusher SummerAutumn | Grey veiled amanita SummerAutumn |
| ⚠ Use | Blusher Cook freshPickling | Grey veiled amanita Not eaten |
| Size | Blusher Medium (5–15 cm) | Grey veiled amanita Medium (5–15 cm) |
| ⚠ Cap color | Blusher BrownPinkRed | Grey veiled amanita GreyVioletBrown |
| Cap shape | Blusher Convex | Grey veiled amanita Convex |
| ⚠ Cap surface | Blusher Scaly | Grey veiled amanita Smooth |
| ⚠ Taste | Blusher Mild | Grey veiled amanita Unknown |
| ⚠ Smell | Blusher Pleasant | Grey veiled amanita Radish-like |
| ⚠ Flesh color change | Blusher Reddening | Grey veiled amanita No change |
| Hymenophore | Blusher Gilled | Grey veiled amanita Gilled |
| Stem | Blusher Bulbous | Grey veiled amanita Bulbous |
| Ring (veil) | Blusher Ring present | Grey veiled amanita Ring present |
| ⚠ Volva | Blusher — | Grey veiled amanita Volva present |
| Substrate | Blusher Soil | Grey veiled amanita Soil |
| Nutrition type | Blusher Mycorrhizal | Grey veiled amanita Mycorrhizal |
| ⚠ Partner trees | Blusher OakBeechBirchSprucePineHornbeam | Grey veiled amanita SprucePineBirch |
📅 Seasonality
Blusher
Fruiting season
June – November
Grey veiled amanita
Fruiting season
August – October
🔬 Morphology
Cap
Blusher
The cap is 5-15 cm across, hemispherical in young mushrooms, later becoming convex to flat. The color is pinkish gray-brown, brownish pink, brick, darker in young mushrooms and paler in old ones. The surface is covered with noticeable whitish-grayish wartlike scales (remnants of the universal veil), scattered unevenly. In wet weather it is slightly sticky. The cap edge is smooth.
Grey veiled amanita
Cap 5-10 cm across, hemispherical in young mushrooms, becoming convex-flat with age. Color gray-purple, lilac-brown, with a violet tinge, darker in the center. Surface smooth, slightly slimy in wet weather, with thin grayish membranous veil remnants (not white and fluffy, as on the panther cap). The cap margin is smooth, without grooves.
Hymenophore
Blusher
Gilled hymenophore: the gills are whitish, turning pink over time where damaged, free. The spore print is white.
Grey veiled amanita
Gilled hymenophore — gills white, free (not attached to the stem), moderately crowded. Spore print white.
Stem
Blusher
The stem is 6-12 cm tall and 1-2 cm thick, cylindrical, with a distinct bulbous swelling at the base. The color is whitish above, with pink or reddish tints lower down. In the upper part there is a white ring with lengthwise grooves and a pinkish tint. The volva is indistinct: it appears as concentric pinkish-white warts on the swollen base (not as a sac).
Grey veiled amanita
Stem 7-12 cm tall, 1-1.5 cm thick, cylindrical, with a pronounced bulbous swelling at the base. Color whitish to light gray, with violet or lilac tints, especially in the lower part. In the upper part — a white membranous ring with a violet tint. At the base — a volva forming a rim (not a sac like in the destroying angel, but a rim around the swelling).
Flesh
Blusher
The flesh is white, slowly (over 1-5 min) turns pink to wine-red when cut; this is the main diagnostic feature of the species. It turns especially pink where slugs or insects have been feeding. In an old mushroom all the flesh in the lower stem is wine-pink. The smell is faint and pleasantly mushroomy.
Grey veiled amanita
Flesh white, with a violet or lilac tint in the lower part of the stem. When cut, it does not change color (unlike the blusher, which turns strongly pink). The smell is faint; in some populations it has a note of old potato, radish or a damp cellar.
Smell
Blusher
Faint and pleasantly mushroomy, with no distinctive notes. In old mushrooms, with a slight winey note.
Grey veiled amanita
Faint; in some populations with a note of old potato or radish. Not diagnostic for safety.
📍 Habitats
Blusher
Grey veiled amanita
👀 Similar mushrooms — don't mix them up!
❓ Frequently asked questions
Can Blusher and Grey veiled amanita be mixed up?
How to tell Blusher from Grey veiled amanita?
Which is more dangerous — Blusher or Grey veiled amanita?
Is Grey veiled amanita edible?
When do Blusher and Grey veiled amanita grow?
Sources
- [1]Вікіпедія (українська)
- [2]Атлас грибів України, Зеров Д.К. (1979)
- [3]MycoBank Database
- [4]Index Fungorum
- [5]GBIF
- [6]iNaturalist Ukraine