Minnesota Seasons - Eastern North American Destroying Angel

Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy

Conservation Status

Photo by AGShep

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Eastern North American Destroying Angel is a common, medium-sized, deadly poisonous, gilled mushroom. As the common name implies, it occurs in eastern North America, specifically in the United States east of the Great Plains, in adjacent Canadian provinces, and in Mexico and Central America. It is the most common “destroying angel” in the eastern United States and Canada.

Eastern North American Destroying Angel is found in deciduous and mixed woodlands in the summer and fall, alone, scattered, or in groups. It grows on the ground near oak trees and possibly other hardwoods. It is mycorrhizal, obtaining its nutrients from the rootlets of a tree while facilitating greater absorption of nutrients from the soil by the tree.

Eastern North American Destroying Angel is a tall white mushroom on a slender stalk. The cap on young mushrooms is oval or nearly round at first, becoming broadly convex then ultimately nearly flat at maturity. The mature cap is is 1″ to 4″ in diameter. The upper surface is hairless and usually dry to the touch, sticky when moist. It is white, rarely becoming yellowish or pinkish, and sometimes darkening in the center with age. There are no patches or warts on the surface. The margin is not lined with grooves (striated) and does not have remnants of the universal veil.

The stalk is solid, 23⁄16″ to 5½″ (5.5 to 14 cm) tall, and 3⁄16″ to ¾″ (5 to 20 mm) thick. It tapers slightly to the top and has an expanded, cup-like base (volva) up to 1½″ in height. The volva is a remnant of a protective, egg-like covering (universal veil) that completely envelopes the developing mushroom when young. It may be partially or completely buried in the ground. The volva sometimes breaks up as the stalk expands. Near the top of the stalk, below the cap and gills, is a membranous ring. This is the remnant of a protective covering (partial veil) of the developing gills.

The gills are white, closely spaced or crowded, and free, not attached to the stalk. Between adjacent gills there is frequently another short gill.

The flesh is white and deadly poisonous, not edible. Young mushrooms have no odor. Older mushrooms have a sickly sweet smell like rotting meat.

The spore print is white.

Similar Species

Habitat and Hosts

On the ground near oak trees

Ecology

Season

Summer and fall

Distribution
		Sources 24, 26, 29, 30, 77. Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 10/1/2025).
10/1/2025

Occurrence
Widely distributed and common

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Fungi (fungi)

Subkingdom

Dikarya

Phylum

Basidiomycota (club fungi)

Subphylum

Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)

Class

Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)

Subclass

Agaricomycetidae

Order

Agaricales (common gilled mushrooms and allies)

Suborder

Pluteineae

Family

Amanitaceae (Amanita mushrooms and allies)

Tribe

Amaniteae

Genus

Amanita (Amanita mushrooms)

Subgenus

Amanitina

Section

Phalloideae

Subordinate Taxa

Synonyms

Amanitina bisporigera

Common Names

Destroying Angel

Eastern North American Destroying Angel

North American Destroying Angel

North American Two-spored Destroying Angel

Glossary

Mycorrhizal

A symbiotic, usually beneficial relationship between a fungus and the tiny rootlets of a plant, usually a tree.

Partial veil

A protective covering over the gills or pores of a developing mushroom. At maturity it disappears, collapses into a ring around the stalk, or wears away into a cobwebby covering and ring zone.

Striate

Striped or grooved in parallel lines (striae).

Universal veil

An egg-like structure that envelopes all or most of a developing gill mushroom. Remnants of the universal veil sometimes visible on a mature mushroom are patchy warts on the cap, a ring on the stalk, and a volva at the base of the stalk.

Volva

Also called cup. A cup-like covering at the base of a mushroom stem, sometimes buried. In Amanita, Volvariella, and some other mushrooms, it is the remnants of the universal veil ruptured by the mushroom pushing through. In Phallales it is the remnants of the ruptured peridium.