Time for night 2, and this time we’ve got an ID and one of the most famous ones at that! kingdom fungi, phylum basidiomycota, class Agaricomycetes, order agaricales, family amanitaceae, genus amanita, and finally species….Fly Agaric! They appear to be common around the world and especially in north america and europe based on the range map on iSeek. They were beautiful and plentiful on the trail last week, iconically showing off their vibrant red caps and white vuluptuous smattering of warts.

While a fatal dose of agaric muscaria has been said to be 15 caps (dried or fresh), there have been many groups throughout history who have taken them. Vikings before battle (rumor, not verified), the Koryak’s shamans woudl transfer the psychedelics within this via pee to their people, and in punjab people have used this in sacred rituals. These guys are poisonous, but it sounds like if you eat well under the expected lethal dose you will likely feel sick and you may feel somewhat drunk – clearly not worth dying over especially when concentrations in the mushroom may vary wildly (your 15 might by their 10).

Below are some tips from the internet on how to identify them for thos eon the look out (including me):

• Always grow directly from the ground.
• Have a brilliant red cap generally covered with warts that are the remnant of the universal veil that covers the young mushrooms as they grow. The warts are typically visible, but can be removed by rain.
• Amanita Muscaria var. guessowii, found in North America, has a yellow or reddish-orange cap.
• Young buttons are often completely covered in white warts.
• The mushrooms will usually have a volva (image of what a volva is attached below) at the base of the stem. This is the remnants of the universal veil that covered them when they were young.
• Very young mushrooms can resemble puffballs. They’ll have a mushroom cap inside when cut in half.
• The stem base is often bulbous or swollen.
• These are large, sturdy mushrooms, but the cap easily detaches from the thick stem.

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