Amanita muscaria | |
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Showing three stages as the mushroom expands | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Agaricomycetes |
Order: | Agaricales |
Family: | Amanitaceae |
Genus: | Amanita |
Species: | A. muscaria |
Binomial name | |
Amanita muscaria (L.) Lam. (1783) |
Amanita muscaria | |
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Mycological characteristics | |
gills on hymenium | |
cap is flat or convex |
|
hymenium is free | |
stipe has a ring and volva | |
spore print is white | |
ecology is mycorrhizal | |
edibility: poisonous or psychoactive |
cap is flat
edibility: poisonous
Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. 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 and birch plantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees.
This iconic toadstool is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, and is one of the most recognisable and widely encountered in popular culture. Several subspecies with differing cap colour have been recognised, including the brown regalis (often considered a separate species), the yellow-orange flavivolvata, guessowii, formosa, and the pinkish persicina. Genetic studies published in 2006 and 2008 show several sharply delineated clades that may represent separate species.