Garden Fungi – Amanita muscaria

Grows in LEAF LITTER.

This is the colourful and exotic fungus that is depicted in the story books of children.

Fruit-body: Red to orange with flecks of white tissue on the cap, which wash off with heavy rain. The shape varies from globular when juvenile, aging to convex and finally plane with a diameter to 250 mm. The gills are white.

Stem: White, central, length to 230 mm, diameter to 30 mm, with a flared ring and has a bulbous base with a volva.

Spore print: White.

Smell: None or slightly mushroomy.

Habit: May be solitary, but usually found in large groups in soil and leaf litter. Originally came to Australia in association with pine trees, but it is now being reported with trees and shrubs of the Nothofagus genus in Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland.

Notes: This is a mycorrhizal fungus growing with Birch, Pines, Nothofagus and possibly members of the Eucalyptus genus.

This is a Fungimap target species.