Fly agaric

When: Autumn for the toadstools

Scientific name: Amanita muscaria

Gaelic name: Agairg phuinnseanach

Size: Cap can reach 10-20cm across at maturity, stem can grow up to 10 - 25cm in length

Where: Along pathways and in grassland, near to hardwood trees such as birch, pine and spruce

Perhaps the most iconic of all fungi, the Fly agaric transforms woodlands around the Inner Forth into places full of mystery, myth and wonder...

Depicted so often as a restful perch for gnomes and fairies, Fly agaric toadstools are easily recognisable due to their bright red top (or 'cap'), which is often covered in white spots. If you were to sneak a look beneath it's colourful, shiny top, you would find a whole set of white ridges ('gills') radiating from the stem to the outer edge of the cap. These gills contain spores, which are gradually released over a few days, being carried away on the breeze to fresh ground and create new fungi.

This fungus is typically found near hardwood trees, because (like many other fungi) Amanita muscaria forms speical relationships with the trees they grow near. Although the red and white brightly coloured mushroom is what we typically think of as the fungus, this is in fact just the fruiting body, much like the berries on a tree or the flowers on a plant. The main body of the fungus actually exists underground, and is made up of different kinds of cells that interact with the roots of the tree, exchanging water and nutrients between the organisms to create a beneficial partnership for both species!

The Fly agaric's most famous reference is possibly in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, during which Alice encounters a wizened caterpillar sat atop a toadstool. This scene alludes to the hallucinogenic properties of Fly agaric if ingested - the many toxins present in the fungus can cause severe adverse effects, to be avoided at all costs! After having eaten part of the mushroom herself, Alice demonstrates it's mind altering properties upon interrogation from the caterpillar: "...I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing." And so it is that these jolly little mushrooms are not quite as harmless as they seem!

***Please note, although we have listed Fly agaric as a plant, it is in fact a fungus, in the Fungi kingdom which is completely separate from plants, just like animals are separate from these two kingdoms!