Magic Mushrooms

While out at the bird sanctuary, we came across these beautiful mushrooms, and the pictures don't do them any justice. They ranged from a dark red in the middle to orange on the outside, and looked like Smurf 'shrooms. K was just fasincated with them and admittedly, so were Mike and I. They were huge, and all over in one part by the path.


Then I googled them this morning and found :

Amanita muscaria (also known by the English-language common name fly agaric or Fly Amanita) is a psychoactive agaric species of mushroom found commonly throughout much of the world. The quintessential toadstool, it is a large imposing white-gilled, white-spotted, usually deep red mushroom, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture. Though it is generally considered poisonous, Amanita muscaria is otherwise famed for its hallucinogenic properties with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. The mushroom has had a religious significance in Siberian culture and possibly also in ancient Indian and Scandinavian cultures.


Ha! Now Mike wants to go back!