Coastal BC Fungi: Fly Amanita

Fly Amanita

Fly Amanita mushroom, Powell Lake BC.

You can tell it’s mushroom season in Powell River when buyers arrive and ‘shroom shacks pop up in storefronts as fast as their namesakes.

I was walking up the cliffside stairs twhen I saw a red “ball” next to the steps. My first thought was a critter raided my compost pail and dropped a ripe tomato on its way up. My second thought was, it’s October and there are no more tomatoes, even in my garden clippings.

A small Fly Amanita also called Fly Agaric.

When I got closer I noticed it was a round, red mushroom. I’ve never seen one like it before. I went online to Google images and almost immediately found it, a variety of Amanita with the scientific name of Amanita muscaria, more commonly Fly Amanita or Fly Agaric.

Surrounded by moss and decaying Salal leaves

Fly Amanita is one of a family of poisonous gilled mushrooms. It’s easy to identify and avoid with its red, orange or yellow cap. It starts rounded then flattens out and turns up as it matures. Around the edge, and across the surface, are cream-coloured to white spots or warts.

Side view showing white spots or warts.

The immature one I found was about an inch in diameter, but they can reach up to twelve inches across when open. I went back to get a picture of the mature state, but alas, some animal had eaten it down to the ground. I guess the toxic components aren’t deadly to all critters. Animals usually know not to eat poisonous things.

One mushroom all alone next to the stairs.

The Fly Amanita is most commonly found in or near coniferous forests during the fall. It’s well known as the mushroom depicted in fairy tales. The unusual common name comes from the belief that you can make a product that will kill flies.

Have you ever seen a Fly Amanita? What do you think? -- Margy

References: The Savory Wild Mushroom by Margaret McKenny (University of Washington Press, 1971) and First Nature (online).