Skip to main content

Story: Poisonous plants and fungi

Fly agaric

Fly agaric

With their distinctive blood red cap, flecked with white tissue, fly agarics can be seen in autumn in pine plantations. They contain hallucinatory poisons, and death can result quickly if they are eaten.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Alastair McLean

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Poisonous plants and fungi – Poisonous fungi, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/9792/fly-agaric (accessed 5 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 1 March 2009.

Comments

cc harper
22 February 2017
You need to describe the mushroom and show photographs of the gills.
Odin
11 December 2014
Fly agaric -amanita muscaria is -NOT- deadly poisonous. However it should be dried well before use. It is in fact excellent medicine for various ills.