Fly Amanita — Amanita muscaria L. ex Fr.

The fly amanita is synonymous with toxicity, although it is nowhere near as poisonous as some other members of the Amanita genus and Amanita family (Amanitaceae).

It grows in autumn, most commonly in coniferous forests, and in the vicinity of birch trees. This is a large, massive mushroom, with distinctive white warts on the cap. However, some individual specimens may be completely wartless, and there is a variety, A. muscaria var. aureola (Kalchbr.), which is wartless by default. The cap is usually red, though it can be orange or reddish-yellowish. The gills are white as is the ringed stipe, at the bottom of which are warty remnants of the volva. The flesh is white, with a mild odor.

As the name suggests, the fly amanita was used as an insecticide and is commonly known as a muscicide – a fly killer.

It contains muscarine and is therefore hallucinogenic.