Fly Agaric

Probably our most recognizable mushroom, the iconic red and white toadstool of fairy tale, the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).

Fly agaric

 

The Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) are out in force at the moment; they don't stay looking like this for long though, the forests' wildlife appear to like them, and they're not that sturdy either. Probably the most recognizable mushroom in the forest, the archetype toadstool and a source of boundless folklore and culture where ever they're found. Pretty too.

Fly Agaric

 

As you walk through the forest you'll see a fair number of Fly Agarics (Amanita muscaria), it's been a really good year for them. Though if you go off the tracks into any one of the many blocks of closely planted Silver Birch you'll see just how good a year it's been; in some blocks I've seen dozens and dozens of these red and white toadstools, of all sizes too, from golf ball to dinner plate sized.

Our seasonal shroom

I've seen quite a few nibbled or trodden examples, though this is the first complete small capped Fly Agaric I've seen this season. The iconic mushroom of midwinter and Christmas, from whence much of our seasonal folklore and imagery originates.

Zoom

Zoom, just one bite and then my mind went boom. They reckon animals eat psychedelic fungi and plants on purpose, apparently actively seeking them out. Makes you wonder.

Hold on

To paraphrase Country Joe 'hold on they're coming, hold on they're nearly here', the torrential rains have awoken the forest's sleeping mycelial community. Over night throughout my roam mushrooms of all kinds have been rising exponentially. Something that puzzles me though, is why do mushrooms grow in one place and not another? What I mean is, why in this particular roam of mine, which is good throughout for Ceps (boletus edulis), and appears ostensibly to have a uniform underlying geology and surface floral matrix, do the Ceps appear at differing times throughout the shrooming season around afore mentioned roam. Why is that? What subtle variant am I missing?

Agaric world

Probably the most recognizable mushroom in the woods, the classic fairy tale toadstool that is the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria). Famed in fables and Viking tales, the psychedelic origins of everything Christmas and muse for Arthur Browns 'Fire', the Fly Agaric always represented the danger in the woods. Listed as poisonous it's apparently more complexed than that, it is poisonous and can be nasty, it has psychoactive properties and is used by shaman and recreationally, when detoxified it's edible, with some mycologists suggesting it should be listed as edible with instructions as to how to detoxify it.  Still, I'm not that hungry, and wouldn't suggest it. There's no doubt though they're a beautiful sight, and more so when seen on mass. In a corner of Burley New Enclosure, amongst a Birch wood, I spied well over 200 Fly Agarics in various stages. Stunning. You see Fly Agarics every year, and some years are good years, though never have I seen so many as this year, and never have I seen as many as were in this wood, and I know I didn't see them all.

The Christmas shroom

Ah, this is where nearly all our Christmas folklore and traditions originate; the midnight flights of a jolly man decked in red and white, who pulled by reindeer through the sky, brings gifts in the depths of winters embrace, all evolved from shamanic pagan practice and story around the psychedelic Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) mushroom.  So, Christmas is effectively based around a trip.

Young Agaric

Fly Agarics (Amanita muscaria) are beginning to pop up all over the forest.