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Amanita muscaria

Amanita muscaria - Fly Agaric

The Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, is a hallucinogen and therefore poisonous. These attractive fungi often appear in groups and are a common sight at the edge of all kinds of woodlands.

In the USA these lovely fungi can be found with both the red coloration that occurs in Europe as well as an orange-yellow variety (A. muscaria var. formosa) with a yellow-tinged stem and ring. The lovely group illustrated below were photographed by Nigel P Kent, to whom we are grateful for kind permission to show this picture:

Amanita muscaria var formosa - copyright 2008 Nigel P Kent

Identification guide

Cap
Cap

10 - 20 cm diameter; red or occasionally orange; usually retaining irregular, white fragments of the universal veil; initially domed, but flattening at maturity. When damaged, the flesh just below the pellicle is initially white but soon turns yellow on exposure to air.

Gills
Gills

White, free, crowded. The gills turn pale yellow as the fruitbody matures.

Stipe
Stem

10 - 25 cm long and 1.5 - 2 cm in diameter; white and ragged with a grooved, hanging ring.

The swollen base retains the white, sack-like remains of the volva, which eventually fragments into rings of scales around the base of mature specimens.

Spore print

White.

Odour/taste

Not distinctive.

Habitat

Mycorhizal with hardwood and softwood trees, notably birch and spruce.

Season

August to November.

Occurrence

Frequent; often recurring in the same place for several years.

Similar species

  1. Amanita caesarea (Caesar's Mushroom) is rarely if ever found in northern Europe; its cap is brilliant orange with a striated margin, and the stipe is yellow.
  2. The caps of some samples of Amanita rubescens are deep orange, but their stems and their cap flesh always turn red when damaged.
  3. Russula marei (Beechwood Sickener) has a bright red cap but no ring or volva; it is very brittle.
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