The Fly Agaric or Aminita muscaria is a mushroom with a rich history.
The Fly Agaric gets it common name from farmers putting them in milk or water to induce a stupor to the flies that consumed the liquid. It is in the Amanita family along with some deadly poisonous mushrooms like the Death Cap, (Amanita phalloids), and the Destroying or Death Angel(Amanita ocreata).
They are fairly common and fun to find. Until I started finding them, I thought they only existed in fairy tales and kitchen decor.
They are the most used image in mushrooms, but most people think they are mythical!
This mushroom also has the most written about it of any mushroom I have researched. Mushroom identification books list it as anything from edible to poisonous. There are stories of siberians using it for rituals, to likening the colors of santa clause and christmas to the famous mushroom. I surely would not eat this mushroom, and do not recomend it to anyone. The poisonous varieties of the Amanita family cause painful deaths as they attack the liver.
There is plenty to read about this mushroom and plenty of opinions. I just like to find it in the woods as there is a kind of mystical appeal to it. I have found them growing in a circle ranging in size from little unopened buttons to saucer sized caps. When they are large, they are hard to miss! Anytime I find one kind of mushroom, I know the conditions are right for other types.
I found a lot of mushrooms that look just like the button mushrooms in the stores, except under the cap is pinkish. Any idea of the kind and if they are edible?
Hello, and welcome to Montana Mushrooms!
I will help you, but that is not enough information to ID a mushroom.
Send some pictures to my email, montanamushrooms@gmail.com and I will look at them. Picture of the top, the gills and the complete mushroom, including the base.
Rub the cap and see if it yellows.
Cut the stem, close to the bottom and see if it yellows.
Find one in the button stage, unopened, and cut it lengthwise and note the color of the gills.
How does it smell, nutty, licorice, library paste or foul.
They might be in the Agaricus family, which includes the button mushroom and the meadow mushroom, but they might not be also!
Talk to you soon.
Dean
Found one of these that I think is this type but it Is really large 9.5 inches across a light tan color. Found in the Big horns in August of 2017.
I live in Montana. Where would you look to find amanita muscaria mushrooms? Are they by trees or just somewhere on the ground?
I think we found a few of these yesterday at Branham Lakes (located in the Tobacco Root Mountains just east of Sheridan).
I’ll send 2 photos of them. Wow! A “golden mushroom”… which I’ve never seem before. Gorgeous.
We left them alone… as I don’t know any gilled mushrooms well enough to trust them.
We did find a few very nice fresh … and large… Boletes. Yummy!