Amanita muscaria

Amanita muscaria is probably the most easily seen mushroom around

these parts at this time of year, late summer. They were the very

first mushrooms I learnt how to recognise, and very recogniseable they

are.



Most of our A. muscaria specimens mature into bright yellow caps,

unlike (I think) most of the rest of the world where the mature cap is

a bright red. The young mushrooms are often quite deeply orange, like

this one, and some are even red.



I have never used them as fly bait, but they are also called "fly

agaric" for their ablity to attract and kill house flies. Has anyone

reading this tried it?