A species
Fly agaric
Amanita muscaria
Red cap, white spots, poisonous partner of pines
You and the fly agaric last shared an ancestor about 1.3 billion years ago (on 10 September, if life's history were one year).
This is the fairytale toadstool from storybooks, with a bright red cap dotted with white spots that can wash off in rain. It is a relative of Baker's yeast, shown beside it on the tree, which may surprise you. Underground it partners with the roots of birch and pine, and it is poisonous, so admire it without tasting.
Young mushrooms look like white eggs half-buried in soil. The cap opens from a ball to a dome to a flat plate, about as wide as a side plate. Its colour is scarlet-red, fading to orange or yellow with age and rain. Under the cap are crowded white gills, and the white stem has a soft skirt-like ring and a swollen base.
You will often find it in groups under birch, pine, spruce and fir in summer and autumn. In some places it still appears in early winter. It is native to cool woods across Europe, Asia and North America, and travelled with pine seedlings to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. Never eat it: it can cause a sick stomach, confusion and strange visions.
Named for killing flies
Its name comes from an old custom of sprinkling it in milk to kill flies. This use was first written about before 1256.
A risky lookalike
It is often mixed up with the edible Caesar's mushroom. One report from Slovenia found this mistake caused most accidental poisonings from this toadstool.
Rarely deadly
It does not contain a highly deadly poison found in the death cap and destroying angel. With modern care, deaths from eating it are extremely rare.