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| Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) growing beneath oak (Quercus). Rowan County, North Carolina. |
Amanita is a large genus of Basidiomycete fungi. The Basidiomycetes include mushrooms, puffballs and even a few yeasts. The members of the genus Amanita usually make connections with the roots of trees in a symbiotic, mycorrhizal association. Amanita mushrooms begin their development with a small, round, egg-like structure called the volva. The stalk lengthens and the bottom of the volva stays in the soil as a cup. The top of the volva is carried on the top of the cap where, in some species, it forms white patches called warts. The gills on the underside of the cap make the spores and are initially covered by a layer of tissue called the veil. The remains of the veil are often attached to the stalk of the mushroom at maturity. Some Amanitas are delicious mushrooms while others are hallucinogenic or even deadly.
If you ask a child to draw a mushroom, they would most likely make a picture of Amanita muscaria, with a red cap, white warts and a white stalk. The graphic appearance of this mushroom has caused it to show up as a home for Smurfs and as the mushroom-headed character Toad in the Mario video games by Nintendo.
The real-life Amanita muscaria is even more interesting. The cap of Amanita muscaria can range in color from deep red to orange to yellow. It grows throughout the northern hemisphere and is associated with many trees, including pines and oaks. The common name for this mushroom, Fly Agaric, refers to its use as an insect poison. In past centuries, people in Europe would grind the mushroom and place it in milk. Flies that drank the milk would be killed by toxins from the mushroom. This use of the mushroom was so well know that the specific name, muscaria, is derived from the Latin, musca, for fly.
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| Amanita muscaria with a yellow-orange cap and white warts. Rowan County, North Carolina. |
Amanita muscaria contains the toxins ibotenic acid, muscimol and muscarine. These compounds are similar in structure to a neurotransmitter, gamma amino butyric acid, that is found in the central nervous system of animals. Within minutes of ingestion, people experience vomiting, agitation and visual or auditory hallucinations. Despite these significant effects, the mushroom rarely causes death. Fly Agaric has been used in many places around the world in religious rituals. Shamans in some Siberian cultures would ingest Amanita muscaria and experience visions. The psychoactive compounds in Fly Agaric were secreted in their urine and people would drink the shaman’s urine to share in his altered state of conciseness.
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| Amanita gemmata. Rowan County, North Carolina. |
Amanita gemmata is widely distributed in both the Old and New Worlds. The mushroom has a yellow-brown cap and sometimes has white warts. Amanita gemmata contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, as does Amanita muscaria, so it is also most likely psychoactive.
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| Amanita bisporigera growing under Live Oak (Quercus virginiana). This deadly mushroom is also know as the Destroying Angel. Palm Beach County, Florida. |
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| Amanita bisporigera showing the basal cup and ring of the veil below the cap. Palm Beach County, Florida. |
Amanita bisporigera is a deadly mushroom with the impressive common name, Destroying Angel. This white mushroom is found in Eastern North America grows in mixed coniferous and deciduous forests. Destroying Angel mushrooms contain a group of poisons called amatoxins. These small peptides inhibit RNA synthesis and cause liver failure, kidney failure and possibly death. Amanita bisporigera also contains another type of poison, phallotoxins, that disrupt cell structure and function. A single cap of Destroying Angel contains enough of these toxins to kill and adult. Typically, a person ingesting Amanita bisporigera reports the mushroom has a pleasant flavor and they present no symptoms for about 12 hours. Then nausea, vomiting and diarrhea begins and if untreated, proceeds to complete kidney and liver shut down, coma and death. Treatment usually involves having the victim drink activated charcoal to absorb the toxins. Some patients undergo transfusion and even liver transplant to save them from this mushroom. With these aggressive treatments mortality for Amanita bisporigera poisoning has been lowered to 27%.
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| Early stage of the Destroying Angel mushroom growing on a lawn beneath oaks. Rowan County, North Carolina. |
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| Mature Destroying Angel showing the veil on the stalk. Rowan County, North Carolina. |
The classification of Amanita is complex and in
flux. Identifying these mushrooms is difficult
because the names of species have changed many times based on new research. There is DNA evidence that Amanita
muscaria in North America may actually be 8 different species. Identification of these well know
mushrooms is problematic, even for experts. This reinforces the notion that you should
never eat a mushroom from the wild unless you are certain of its identity. The result of an error could be deadly.
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