(Amanita muscaria)
Description and Characteristics
Amanita muscaria has a red, orange or yellow, convex cap and white scales with white gills on its underside. The mushroom can grow up to 30 cm tall and the fully-grown cap measures between 10 and 20 cm. The stem has a ring of tissue, called the annuals or skirt, and a volva—tissue forming a cup-like shape—at its base.
Habitat and Distribution
Fly Agaric can be found throughout the northern hemisphere, and have been introduced into Australia and New Zealand.
They grow in woodland and heathland ecosystems, often near birch, pine, or spruce. The root-like hyphal structures that make up most of the fungal body form underground relationships with the roots of the trees. In these mutualistic symbioses, the fungi provide the trees with valuable nutrients and the trees give the fungi sugars.
Reindeer, small mammals, and invertebrates have been found to eat fly agaric mushrooms and seem to be unaffected by the chemicals that are toxic to humans.
Further Reading
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/fungi-and-lichens/fly-agaric/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/fungi/fly-agaric
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/Mind_and_Spirit/flyagaric.shtml
