Tag: Fly Agaric

Friendly Friday: Twins.

David M6 Comments

This is my contribution to the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Twins.

I started thinking about some of the pairs and doubles I have photographed over the years. After a while I started writing them down as the list was getting quite long and I didn’t want to overlook any when making my selection for the challenge.

Two Maple leaves.

A pair of Maple leaves.

Two Great Crested Grebes.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes.

Two Oxeye Daisies.

A pair of Oxeye Daisies.

Two Sandhill Cranes.

Sandhill Cranes at sunrise.

Two Fly Agaric fungi.

Amanita muscaria.

Two Large White Butterfly caterpillars.

Big and small.

Two pieces of grass sticking out of the snow.

Simplicity.

Amanita muscaria.

David M2 Comments

A second Fly Agaric post, Amanita muscaria is the scientific name for the mushroom.

Although classified as poisonous it hasn’t stopped slugs or snails eating part of the cap of the one on the right. You can just see the edge of eaten section slightly right of centre of the top of the cap.

At the same time, the reason it is called Fly Agaric in English is because in the past the mushroom was powdered into milk to kill flies in parts of Europe. Bug Agaric is an old alternative name for the mushroom for the same reason.

Amanita muscaria.

Fly Agaric.

David M2 Comments

One from the archives taken in Cheshire in the 1990s. Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) are the classic Toadstool beloved by illustrators of children’s stories.

But they’re far more interesting than that. With the red cap and white spots some people assume it’s highly poisonous. It is poisonous but human deaths from ingestion are extremely rare.

It contains psychoactive substances and some cultures have used it for its hallucinogenic properties. The mushroom was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the indigenous peoples of Siberia.

I picked this shot because I like the way the Bracken fronds have wiped the white spots off a section of the cap. The white spots are the remains of a white veil that enclose the mushrooms when they emerge from the soil.

Fly Agaric and Bracken.