Fly agaric

Posting early today, as I'm off to Brampton this evening to give a talk on' The Wildlife of Peterborough'.

After a somewhat rainy start the weather improved dramatically after lunch so Chris and I went for a stroll round Southey Wood. We found a moderate number of fungi including three species of milkcap and this rather beautiful fly agaric, the first I've seen this year.

It is amongst the most iconic of the toadstools, commonly depicted in children’s books and on Christmas cards around the world. It is highly distinctive and, at least when fresh and in good condition, can hardly be confused with any other species.

Its hallucinogenic properties have been well-known for centuries and the species has a long history of use in religious and shamanistic rituals, especially in Siberia. It is a common and widespread fungus, native to much of the north-temperate world, and an important ectomycorrhizal associate of various broadleaved and coniferous trees. Its fruitbodies are also utilised by a wide variety of flies and by some beetles as breeding sites.