How to tell Tawny grisette from Jewelled amanita

Cap 4-9 cm across, hemispherical to conical-convex when young, later convex with a low umbo. Reddish-brown, orange-brown or honey-brown, darker at the centre and paler at the margin. The surface is smooth, slightly slimy in wet weather. The margin has characteristic radial grooves, a diagnostic feature of section Vaginatae.

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.

The gills are free, crowded and pure white (not attached to the stem). Spore print white, as in all amanitas.

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 8-15 cm tall, 0.5-1.2 cm thick, thin and slender. Whitish, with fine lengthwise brownish fibres or a fine mesh. No ring: that's the key difference from its deadly relatives. At the base is a sac-like, eggshell volva (whitish or brownish-tinged), just like the destroying angel's.

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 thin, soft, white to pale cream. It does not change colour when cut. The smell is faint and neutral.

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

Faint, neutral, mushroomy, with no distinctive notes.

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.