I found s bunch of these mushrooms in front of my home in vancouver and am wondering if they are Amanita muscaria mushrooms? thanks
Oh GORGEOUS! I'm moving to your neighborhood now! lol Definatley our wonderful Amanita muscaria. You must have some fir trees nearby?
yes.. there about 10 of them growing all together.. some of the caps are probably 7 inches long. I was speaking with a neighbour and she said that there were about 2 last year.. so i am drying a couple of them. are they the magical kind?
Just in passing my daughter and I spotted a colony of Amanita muscaria growing under a group of Birch trees in someones front yard near Manitoba and King Edward st. a few nights ago. We both spotted them when the lights from my car lit them up and we just had to stop and investigate.
The only thing magical besides the beauty that I have found in these is how much sadness occurs when someone decides to try them. Licking, eating or smoking these are all deadly choices that some idiots look for out there with this species. If only......... There is a REASON these were/still ARE used as fly killer. There are science organizations though, who still study them and ask for dried specimins.
That's the mushroom that got me interested in wanting to take photos of different mushrooms. Oregon coast and coast range is one of my favorite spots to go looking.
Fly Agaric isn't deadly poisonous. However, you do need to prepare it properly (sun dry or cook it), apparently, to reduce the nasty side effects. And what's more the active chemicals pass into your urine unmetabolized! So save that urine for a friend! :)
Luckily, neither any of my friends nor I would need someone else's urine for any usages...I'm just one of those who wouldnt' try it just because I prefer to be 100% THERE when the police come knocking on my door.... ...and again? I just can't imagine eating something that is used to kill FLIES! Eeeww THIS really IS one of the most gorgeous mushrooms out there though...I understand completely M.D.....I'm a 'mycophile' mainly because of the beauty of this mushrooms' family. I've only seen these when other's have found them and hope one day to discover one of my very own...lol...however? I did discover my own Amanita species that is new to Kansas just this year. This family of mushrooms produces some of the most exotically beautiful colors not to mention the chemical make-ups of them.
AFAIK, A. Muscaria is entirely legal to buy, sell, possess, and consume in the US and Canada. It's definitely one of the most stunning mushrooms I've ever seen!
I've never read that it was illegal? I just think of how I...me personally...would find it rather uncomfortable to eat, smoke, drink or consume in any other way...something that makes me do things I wouldnt' normally. I'm a diabetic/epileptic...I tend to avoid anything that happens to my body that I can't control...lol I'm already having enuf problems as it is. I dream constantly, have nightmares regularly, and tend to date and marry creatures that belong to imaginary realms. Sooooo....why should I try a hallucinagen again? lol.... If I were healthier? It might have been one of those things I'd have considered trying at least once to see what the 'hype' is about. Especially when I was young and immature. However, I do know that these are studied extensively even as we type for all it's other uses..... (something I read once.....I think it takes about 15 caps to kill someone...that's a pretty healthy meal!)
I'm sorry, I misinterpreted what you meant by being all there when the police come knocking on your door.
lol...no problem. I often get teased by the locals about what mushrooms am I 'doing' when my blood sugars have dropped and I start acting goofy.
It doesn't kill the flies either, unless they drown in the milk it is traditionally soaked in. They lie there "tripping" for five to eight hours and then fly away. IMO this is a way to give the mushroom lots of time to coat the hairy, sticky fly with spores so that he will fly off and spread them elsewhere. Very clever way to spread your seed. THere are at least eight genetically distinct species (that cannot interbreed) that all look pretty much identical and could be described as Amanita muscaria. They all cause different types of sick and euphoric states. Vomiting is pretty much a characteristic. Reports to the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria would seem to indicate that those found in North America bring on, after a violent illness and tremendous anxiety, a kind of "thank GOd that's over and I survived it kind of elation" and some European and Eurasian lines are a less sick and more euphoric sensation. Those grow all over the lawns at UBC under Pines and Birches. We picked a lot there when I lived there and dried them for possible future experiments that we thought the better of. No, I have not tried them. Good Luck
