Amanita muscaria
Also called fly amanita, fly mushroom.
The fly agaric is the red-and-white-spotted toadstool of storybooks. In North America it ranges from red in the West to yellow or orange in the East. It contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, which cause confusion, delirium and deep sleep. It grows under conifers and birch.
The tell
Red, orange or yellow cap scattered with white to yellowish warts, white gills, a ring, and rings of scales above a bulb at the base.
Field marks
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
Where and when
Lookalikes
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Amanita jacksonii
Caesar's mushrooms have yellow gills and a yellow stem, a lined cap edge, usually no warts, and a large white sac-like cup at the base. The fly agaric has white gills and rings of scales instead of a sac.
Amanita pantherina
The panther cap has a brown to tan cap with white warts and a bulb with a rolled collar at the top. It contains the same toxins, usually at higher levels.
Amanita flavoconia
Yellow patches is smaller, with a bright yellow to orange cap and yellow, powdery warts, and lacks the concentric rings of scales on the bulb.
Amanita rubescens
The blusher has a dull reddish brown cap with grayish to pinkish warts, and its flesh slowly turns pinkish red where cut or damaged.
Edibility
The fly agaric contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, which act on the brain. Field guides record symptoms beginning 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating: dizziness, confusion, agitation, delirium, muscle twitching, and then deep sleep. Recorded deaths are rare. Field guides list it as poisonous.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Yes. It contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, which cause dizziness, confusion, delirium and deep sleep within a few hours of being eaten. Deaths are rare, and field guides list it as poisonous.
North American fly agarics vary by region. Western and Alaskan populations are usually red, while eastern populations are usually yellow to orange. These forms are often treated as separate varieties or species.
Under pines, spruces, firs, birches and aspens across North America, including planted trees in parks and yards. They fruit from summer into fall, and in fall and winter in California.
Sources
MushroomExpert.com
MushroomExpert.com
Beaty Biodiversity Museum, University of British Columbia
Index Fungorum
Also on Mushrooms.id
Russula xerampelina
Photo coming
Russula xerampelina
A red to purple Russula whose stem bruises yellow then brown and which smells of shrimp or crab with age.
Russula emetica
Bright scarlet cap over pure white gills and a pure white, brittle stem.
Amanita phalloides
Greenish to yellow-olive cap, white gills, a skirt-like ring, and a white sac-like cup around the base of the stem.
Amanita bisporigera
Pure white all over, with white gills, a skirt-like ring, and a white sac-like cup around a bulb at the base.
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