Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria): How to Recognise It

• Cap: Cap 5-30 cm, bright red covered with white warts.
• Gills: White, free gills.
• Stem, ring and volva: White stem 5-20 cm, with a white ring; base bears 2 to 4 distinct rings or ruffs left from the universal veil.
• Spore print: White.
• Where and when it grows: Forms mycorrhizal associations with pine, oak, spruce, fir, birch, cedar, and others; fruits in summer and autumn.
• Range in North America: Subsp. flavivolvata ranges from Alaska through the Rocky Mountains and Central America to Colombia; var. guessowii occurs in the northeast from Newfoundland and Quebec south to Tennessee.

• Caesar's mushroom, Amanita caesarea: Caesar's mushroom has a uniformly orange-red cap without white warts, and its stem, gills, and ring are all yellow.

Toxin: ibotenic acid and muscimol. Severity: serious poisoning. Timing: Onset around 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion, peaking within 3 hours. A delayed start is the dangerous part: hours without symptoms do not mean the mushroom was harmless.

Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (U.S.) right away, or your local emergency number. Keep any leftover mushroom, a photo of it, and note when it was eaten. Do not wait for symptoms and do not try home remedies. This page does not give medical advice.

A clear photo of the whole mushroom, including the base dug out of the ground, the gills and a spore print, lets the app and a mycologist narrow down what it might be and flag features that match Fly agaric. No photo, app or website can confirm that a wild mushroom is safe to eat. Use identification to know what to avoid, not what to cook.

No. The death cap, Amanita phalloides, is generally greenish: Wikipedia lists pale green, yellowish-green, olive-green, bronze and, in one form, white, and no red. A red mushroom with white spots is the fly agaric, which Wikipedia calls the most easily recognised toadstool.

The mix-up is understandable, because the two are close relatives. Both are Amanitas with white free gills, a ring on the stem and remains of a veil at the base, and both are poisonous. But they differ a great deal in how dangerous they are, so it matters which one someone has eaten.

• Cap: fly agaric red with white warts, 8 to 20 cm (Wildlife Trusts); death cap greenish, olive or white, smooth (Wikipedia).
• Toxins: fly agaric contains ibotenic acid and muscimol; death cap contains amatoxins (Wikipedia).
• Onset: fly agaric 30 minutes to 2 hours; death cap 6 to 12 hours with no symptoms first (Wikipedia, Mushroom poisoning).
• Effects: fly agaric often causes stomach cramps and hallucinations, with deaths rare (Wildlife Trusts); death cap destroys the liver, and about half a cap can kill (Wikipedia).
• Share of deaths: death cap about 90% of mushroom deaths (Wikipedia).
• Where and when: fly agaric under birch, pine and spruce, August to November in the UK (Wildlife Trusts); death cap mainly with oaks, including planted oaks in California (see death cap).

Red squirrels, slugs and fungus gnats eat fly agaric (Wildlife Trusts), which is a reminder that animals eating a mushroom says nothing about whether people can: Wikipedia lists 'animals avoid toxic mushrooms' among false folk beliefs.

This site does not call any poisonous mushroom safe to touch. Wikipedia's article on the death cap advises against even touching it. If you need to remove one from a yard, wear gloves or use a bag, keep it away from food, bin it rather than composting it, and wash your hands. If a child may have put any part in their mouth, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (US).

Wikipedia estimates that 30 grams, about half a cap, can kill an adult, and that cooking does not destroy the toxins. Many people survive with fast hospital treatment. Wikipedia lists silibinin (from milk thistle), high-dose intravenous penicillin G and, when the liver fails, transplantation, which is often the only option to prevent death. Mortality fell from 22.4% in a 1971 to 1980 European review to about 10 to 15% in surveys reviewed in 1995; it is about 10% for people hospitalised soon after eating and 50 to 90% for those admitted 60 hours or more later (Wikipedia). Time is the factor anyone can change: call as soon as a death cap might have been eaten.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Nothing on this page says a wild mushroom is safe to eat or safe to handle. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.