amanita muscaria

[sidefx]

is there many mushrooms that look similar to red amanita muscaria, for identifying.
or is it a unique looking mushroom.
no-one wants to say either way about my picking.

 

[lenie]

Not much, maybe some Russula species like betularum and aurea.
Always make sure the stipe has a ring and a volva, if it doesn't don't eat it..

You probably already know this, but i'm going to say it anyway:
Amanita Panteria almost looks the same, this one's more potent but also more toxic..

Good luck.. hehe..

 

[peach]

I can't think of anything that has a white stem, white gills, red caps and white spots that isn't muscaria. I can see them from miles off. Pantherina doesn't look like muscaria. Well, it does look similar, but it also looks far too similar to the dangerous alternatives to guess at it. Pantherina has a brown cap. It looks a lot like death caps. But it's also faaaaaaar stronger in my experience. In fact, neither I nore my friend have ever experienced anything strange with muscaria, whether it's picked or bought from different people. We even tried smoking it. But pantharina is in NO WAY subtle. And it's nothing like psilocybe. I didn't see anything. It was like my memory had got stuck in a loop and I couldn't work out if someone had just asked me something or said it months ago. I ended up thinking I was in a coma on a hospital bed.

MUSCARIA:

PANTHERINA:

DEATH CAPS:

Notice that the death cap lying down has a whitish stem, white gills and traces of spots on the cap. The spots alone are not a great way to choose between the two. Some muscaria variants don't have white spots. Some death caps have white spots left over. They all come from undergound 'eggs', which can leave spots on them. And the rain can wash them off. Another sign you can use for muscaria is tiny holes on the stem and cap. As if someone's been poking it with a sharp pencil. They're holes made by maggots. There's a reason it's called FLY agaric.

 

[IJesusChrist]

frankly i just picked up anything that was red or yellow with spots that have a texture and eat them.

delirious feelings aren't my favorite, but they are kind of a giddy feeling

 

[MrEmo]

there are a few species that can be confused by the novice, eg. Amanita caesarea, Amanita flavella, and Amanita flavoconia, although such miss identification is rare.
My advise is buy a mushroom identification guide, learn the terms, and dont take risks

 

[yngvie]

no-one wants to say either way about my picking.

Hi, No one? It's safe to say that many people are cautious about encouraging the eating of any wild mushroom, as I suppose we should be. An obvious reason being the wide range of circumstance regarding the weight, the general health of the sampler and the possible wide range of toxicity of the individual specimens. For example, I could say that The amanitas on the Pacific west coast are not terribly toxic based on personal experience. I at one time picked a couple of dozen on Vargas Isalnd, BC. Picked in bright sunshine in July a hundred yards off the beech just off the forest edge. (Incidentally, the other mushrooms that were there in abundance throughout the forest were phenomenal. Every shape and size, including a giant Boletus which weight a good 5 pounds.) I dried the caps after cutting them in smaller pieces and mixing them together for an even distribution and ate a couple of ounces (about two of the mushrooms). It reminded me of a strong antihistamine. It wasn't terribly enjoyable but I wasn't uncomfortable in any way. However, this proceedure in no way constitutes a scientific experiment or a series of experiments. The conditions were uncontrolled and the results were highly subjective. Ultimately in a matter of this sort a person just has to wade in, try it and make their own judgements. Obviously there is something in mans makeup that drives this spirit of exploration into the realm of the psychonaut. GLGH!

Kevin