How to tell False death cap from Jewelled amanita

Cap 5-10 cm across, hemispherical when young, becoming convex to flat with age. Colour pale yellow, lemon-citrine, creamy yellow, slightly darker in the centre. Surface smooth, slightly slimy in wet weather. The cap often carries large white, cream or brownish membranous patches, remnants of the universal veil (volva) left stuck to it as it grew. The margin is smooth.

The cap is 4 to 10 cm across, occasionally up to 12 cm. It starts convex, almost bell-shaped, then opens out flat, sometimes with a slight dip in the middle.

The colour runs from pale straw to bright egg-yolk yellow, usually darker and more ochre in the centre, and older caps fade to cream. The surface is slightly sticky in wet weather. Flat white flakes, the remains of the universal veil, sit on top, thickest in the centre. They come off easily and rain washes them away, so a cap can be completely smooth. The margin of a mature cap is grooved, with short lines like the teeth of a comb.

Gills white, free (not attached to the stem), moderately crowded. Spore print white.

The gills are free or only just touch the stem, crowded, soft and white, and may turn slightly yellowish in old specimens.

The spore print is white. The spores are smooth and broadly ellipsoid, roughly 8–11 × 6.5–8.5 µm, but that only shows under a microscope.

Stem 6-10 cm tall, 1-1.5 cm thick, cylindrical, with a pronounced bulbous base (like an onion bulb). Colour white to yellowish. A white membranous ring near the top. At the base, a volva forming a rim on the bulb (not a sac, as in the destroying angel).

The stem is slender, 5 to 12 cm long and 0.5 to 1.5 cm thick, white or pale yellowish, smooth or finely downy, and fragile.

The ring is thin and membranous, like a little skirt, and sits halfway down the stem or lower. It doesn't last: often all that's left is a faint mark, and old specimens may have no ring at all. So a missing ring doesn't mean it isn't an amanita.

At the bottom the stem has a small rounded bulb. The volva hugs it tightly and ends in a narrow free collar at the top, sometimes broken into one or two rings or flakes. It isn't a tall sack as in the grisettes, nor a large, abruptly cut-off bulb as in the false death cap. The bulb is often sunk in the soil, so the mushroom needs to be dug up.

Flesh white to pale yellow; it does not change colour when cut. The smell is distinct, with a note of raw potato or radish, a diagnostic feature of the species.

The flesh is white, sometimes slightly yellowish in the stem, thin, and doesn't change colour when cut.

A distinct potato-and-radish smell: raw potato, radish or a damp cellar. Older mushrooms often smell only faintly, so the base of the stem is more reliable: a round bulb with a narrow rim.

The smell is faint, hardly noticeable. Some authors mention a slight radish note, but most field guides say there's no distinctive smell. The only lookalike you can tell by smell is the false death cap, which smells of raw potato.