Fly Agaric
The fly agaric is the storybook toadstool — a brilliant red to orange cap flecked with white warty patches, white gills, a ringed stem, and a scaly, bulbous base, growing from soil in partnership with birches and conifers. The white warts are the remains of a universal veil and can wash off in heavy rain, leaving a plain red cap, so colour alone should never be relied upon. It is genuinely common in northern and mountain gardens and plantations.
It is toxic, containing ibotenic acid and muscimol, which cause nausea, confusion, delirium, and in serious cases seizures; it is rarely fatal but can be dangerous to children and pets, who are drawn to its bright colour. As a member of Amanita it shares the family's warning features — white gills, a stem ring, and a bulbous base — and reinforces the single most important habit in the whole genus: treat any white-gilled, ringed, bulbous-based mushroom with great caution.
Toxic
Toxic — contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, causing nausea, confusion, and delirium, and hazardous to children and pets drawn to its colour. Its white veil warts can wash off in rain, so it should be known by the whole Amanita warning set rather than by the red cap alone: white gills, a stem ring, and a scaly bulbous base.
Other Amanita species, Edible russulas when the warts have washed off the cap
Partners mycorrhizally with birch, pine, and spruce, aiding those trees' nutrient uptake. Ecologically valuable to woodland, but a bright, toxic hazard where children and pets play.
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