How to tell Panther cap from Jewelled amanita

The cap is 5–12 cm across, spherical or bell-shaped when young, later flattened-convex. The surface is shiny, brown, grey-brown or olive-brown, dotted with small pure-white warts, usually spread fairly evenly; rain can wash them off.

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, white and crowded. They don't change colour when damaged, which sets them apart from a similar edible species, the blusher, whose flesh and gills turn pink.

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.

The stem is 6–12 cm tall, white and smooth, with a thin membranous ring in the upper part. At the base is a bulb with veil remnants: not a free, sac-like volva but one or more white woolly rings, or a spiral, above a narrow gutter on the bulb. This rimmed bulb distinguishes it from the blusher.

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.

The flesh is firm and white and doesn't turn pink when damaged (a critical feature that distinguishes it from the similar blusher). There's no distinctive taste.

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

The smell is faint, neutral or slightly unpleasant, subtly radish-like or earthy. It's neither sharp nor repulsive, so nothing warns you of the danger while foraging.

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.