page_title: Amanita caesarea
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Amanita caesarea / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: English: Caesar's Mushroom (Amanita caesarea). Piacenza's mountains, september 2005. Français&#160;: Amanite des Césars (Amanita caesarea). Montagnes autour de Piacenza, septembre 2005. Español: Amanita caesarea en las montañas de Piacenza, septiembre de 2005.
context_page_description: Amanita caesarea, commonly known as Caesar's mushroom, is a highly regarded edible mushroom in the genus Amanita, native to southern Europe and North Africa. While it was first described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772, this mushroom was a known favorite of early rulers of the Roman Empire.
  It has a distinctive orange cap, yellow gills and stipe. Organic acids have been isolated from this species. Similar orange-capped species occur in North America and India. It was known to and valued by the Ancient Romans, who called it Boletus, a name now applied to a very different type of fungus.
  Although it is edible, the Caesar's mushroom is closely related to the psychoactive fly agaric, and to the deadly poisonous death cap and destroying angels.
context_section_description: It is found in southern Europe and North Africa, particularly in the hills of northern Italy. It is thought to have been introduced north of the Alps by the Roman armies as it is most frequently found along old Roman roads. The mushroom is also distributed in the Balkans, Hungary, India, and China (Sichuan Province). Although the species is not known to exist in the United States and Canada, it has been collected in Mexico.
  In Europe, Amanita caesarea inhabits primarily oak forests (Quercetum troianae Em. et Ht., Quercetum frainetto-cerris Rudsky. and Quercetum frainetto-cerris macedonicum Oberd., e.g.). It grows individually or in groups from early summer to mid autumn. In warmer climates this mushroom fruits in higher oak woodlands, sometimes mixed with conifers. Thus, in Mexico its natural habitat is oak, pine or fir forests at altitudes of 2,200–3,000 m (7,200–9,800 ft) above sea level, where it prefers plains and can occur at slopes of 20 degrees.
  Amanita caesarea is listed in the Red Data book of Ukraine, and it is protected by law in Croatia, and Slovenia and Czechia
caption: A. caesarea specimen from Italy.
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