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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Amanita muscaria is a classic mushroom. Fully grown, the cap is usually around 12 cm in diameter (up to 30 cm) with a distinctive blood-red colour (crimson, fading to yellow with age), scattered with white to yellow, removable flecks (warts), which are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young. The stem is white, 5-20 cm, with a basal bulb that bears universal veil remnants, in the form of a ragged collar or [group of] ruff[s] that circle[s] the base of the stalk (or stipe).
It grows on the ground in a number of different woodlands, although birch, pine, spruce and fir are common in its habitats. It is considered poisonous, though rarely fatally so. The name "Fly Agaric" comes from its European use as an insecticide: crushed, dipped, or sprinkled in milk. But it is sometimes consumed for its psychopharmacological effects. It is a very easily exported species that has been imported to many countries outside of Europe with, for example, pine plantations. When imported to a new country, muscaria can jump to native species (for example, Eucalyptus in Australia). It can then be exported with its new symbiont (for example, from Australia to Argentina). |
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