The stem is hollow and its gills are white. The cap is variously colored, white, orange, yellow, or even brilliant red, and dotted over with corklike particles or warty scales which are easily rubbed off. There is a large, drooping collar about the upper part of the hollow, white stem, and the latter is scaly below with a bulbous enlargement at its base.
The young mushrooms, or buttons, do not exhibit the dotted cap, and the bulbous scaly base may be left in the ground when the mushroom is picked. The fly amanita is usually larger than the common mushroom.
Fig. 40.
A POISONOUS FUNGUS.
(Amanita Muscaria.)
The Fly Agaric.
Death Cup or Deadly Agaric (Amanita Phalloides).—This species is more fatal in its effects than the preceding. Its salient feature is a bulbous base surmounted and surrounded by a collar or cup out of which the stem grows. This is often buried beneath the ground, however, so that it may escape notice. The gills and stem are white like the preceding, but the cap is usually not dotted but glossy, white, greenish, or yellow. There is also a broad, noticeable ring about the stem, as in the fly amanita. This mushroom frequents moist, shady spots, also along the borders of fields. It occurs singly, and rarely in fields or pastures.
Fig. 41.