I've been searching the net and many books in regards to the peach fly agaric. However, it seems that nearly every source has incomplete information, and the only way to learn about it is to spend hours searching every article to get all the facts. The aim of this guide is to compile all the information that I've learned about the peach fly agaric into one article as a time saving tool.
Before reading this guide I highly recommend that the reader first read the "Guide to Hunting Fly Agarics in North America" which can be found in the Mushroom Hunting and Identification section of the forum. The above guide mentions the peach fly agaric, but the section is rather small and there's much more information that's out there.
Habitat:
The peach fly agaric occurs throughout the southeastern United States. From the Carolinas on down to Florida and west to portions of Texas. If you wish to get a better picture of where the peach fly agaric occurs simply pull up a map showing the distribution of loblolly pine trees. Wherever these trees occur you'll find plenty of peach fly agarics. ID for loblolly pines? Their needles only occur in bundles of 3. If you find a tree with needles in bundles of 2s and 3s then you have found a slash pine; keep looking. Don't get excited if you find 5 or 6 loblolly pine trees in a cluster. I have searched literally tons of these small clusters of trees and found nothing. The only time I found these peach toadstools was in loblolly forests or tree farms. I have research that suggests they also occur near Virginia and Scotch pine, although I can't substantiate that claim. I would suggest going for the loblolly since they are the most common in the southeast.
Season:
Peach fly agarics occur beginning in August and continue throughout the fall. The exact length of the season is determined by your geographical location. Northern latitudes will have a shorter season because these mushrooms don't like the frost. Gulf coast states might see seasons stretch into the winter due to the mild climate. Since these mushrooms have a lifespan of about 4 days I would recommend searching for them 2-3 days after a good soaking rain.
Identification:
This part can be a little tricky so it's important to pay special attention to this section. Most fly agarics from other parts of the globe have clear fuzzy concentric rings at the base of the stipe. Please refer to the "Guide to Hunting Fly Agarics in North America." The peach fly agaric on the other hand has rings that look more shaggy and are often disorganized into a fuzzy base rather than clear concentric rings. Also most other varieties of fly agaric have the universal veil in tact while the peach fly agarics veil is fragile and often missing. These two factors can make it difficult to identify them. Of the mushrooms that I have found nearly 15% of them did not have clear concentric rings and simply had a shaggy base to it. Also out of the many, many mushrooms that I've picked I can only remember about 10 of them ever having the veil present. These two factors have nothing to do with the maturity of the mushroom. I have seen mature mushrooms with crystal clear concentric rings and have seen immature mushrooms with nothing that resembled rings. Therefore, don't think that your safe in picking the young mushrooms. It's important to examine each and every mushroom from your hunt and when in doubt throw it out! Want to know a secret? The only time I've encountered a peach fly agaric look alike was in a forest with mixed species of trees. On the other hand when I searched in loblolly pine tree farms there were no look alikes at all. I'm still careful to identify each and every mushroom from a tree farm because you never know. But, with only loblolly pine trees growing in a 2-3 mile radius there are no other trees that might contain mushrooms that could register as a false positive.
Nearly all other characteristics of the peach fly agaric are similar to those fly agarics found across North America. The only other difference is cap color. Most of the mushrooms I've found have either a solid orange color, orange in the middle and yellowish on the edges, red in the middle and orangish yellowish on the edges, and finally some that are deep crimson red. The deep red ones are rare, I've only found a handful of them.
I hope you've learned a lot in this guide and feel free to post things that I might have missed.
Q
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