fly agaric

Description:

It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees. The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually deep red mushroom, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture. Several subspecies, with differing cap colour, have been recognised to date, including the brown regalis (considered a separate species), the yellow-orange flavivolvata, guessowii, and formosa, and the pinkish persicina. Genetic studies published in 2006 and 2008 show several sharply delineated clades which may represent separate species

Habitat:

Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Amanita muscaria has been unintentionally introduced to many countries in the Southern Hemisphere, generally as a symbiont with pine plantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees

Notes:

Amanita muscaria poisoning typically occurs in either young children or people ingesting it for a hallucinogenic experience.Occasionally, immature button forms have been mistaken for edible puffballs. Additionally, the white spots may be washed away during heavy rain and it can then appear similar to the edible A. caesarea