Fly Agaric

 

Fly Agaric

Fairy Toadstools

Known in our family as Fairy Toadstools, these mushrooms are poisonous and known for their hallucinogenic properties. The harbinger of Autumn, Flly Agaric is often found on light soils where birch trees grows, but also among pine and spruce trees

It is a fungus that often forms mycorrhizal associationswith birch, but also other trees

It’s known to contain ibotenic acid, which both attracts and kills flies – hence its name

The wildest of Vikings, the Berserkers (famed for their unbridled aggression in battle) are thought to have eaten this mushroom and its pyschotic effect encouraging their fearless behaviour

With a long history of use in religious ceremonies, Fly Agaric was the main ingredient in a sacred and hallucinogenic ritual drink called ‘soma’ in India and Iran; while the Siberian shamans would give it out as a gift in late December

Fly Agaric appears in many fairy tale stories and is featured in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderlandwhen she is given the mushroom to eat and it enables her to change in size

Often depicted on Victorian and Edwardian Christmas cards as a symbol of good luck. It has been suggested that the  brilliant red and white colours of Fly Agaric were the inspiration for Father Christmas’ traditional scarlet suit