Fly Agaric Fungi | Amanita muscaria
On a recent walk on the Attingham Estate in Shropshire, I stumbled across this fungus. It's from the amanita family and can be lethal to humans. It's first name fly refers to it's use as a fly trap when powdered and added to milk. It has been used as an intoxicant by the people of Siberia. It has also been reported that parboiled, the poison in the mushroom weakens enough to allow the mushroom to be consumed without any ill effects!
At this time of year this is a very common fungus in pine and birch woodland in the UK. There are several varieties that range in from the typical red to yellow and brown. In heavy rain the white spots may wash off leaving the mushroom appearing gloss red, this has led to it being sometimes mistaken as Amanita caesarea, Caesar's mushroom which is edible.
Swallow Bushcraft.
Share | Subscribe | Like
Please subscribe to receive more articles like this one!
___________________________________________________________________________
Copyright:
My content on this site may be shared in digital form (for non-commercial use with a link back (without no-follow attribute) to the original article crediting the author. All photos, drawings, and articles are copyrighted by and the property of Swallow Bushcraft unless stated otherwise. You are more than welcome to share our photos and articles on social media for educational purposes as long as you link back to the original article/photo with credit to the author.
We reserve the right to amend this policy at any time without notifying you. We advise that if you use any of our imagery that you periodically check this page to see if there have been any changes.
