This was part of a group of ten on the bank-side of the Derwent Walk. |
It is a very common mushroom in conifer areas all throughout the northern hemisphere. The colour is highly variable, from bright red (A. muscaria var. muscaria), to orange to yellow (A. muscaria var. formosa) to white (A. muscaria var. alba), but there are always white patches on the cap. They can grow to be quite large, up to a foot high with caps as big as diner plates. It's called the fly agaric because in some regions little pieces of the mushroom are placed in milk to attract flies. The flies become inebriated and crash into walls and die. Besides the brightly coloured and large fruiting bodies, there is substantial interest in this mushroom because it is poisonous and hallucinogenic. Most fruiting bodies contain two toxins, ibotenic acid and muscimol. Ingestion of these toxins results in "expanded perception," talking to God, macropsia (perceiving objects as enlarged), rapid heartbeat, dry mouth. They are hallucinogenic and psychoactive, acting on the nervous system - you've been warned.
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Photo ©
Alan Mould