Amanita muscaria and Amanita ceasarea: The evil and the good twin.

Discussion in 'Herbalism - Medicinal, Practical, and other Uses' started by Correy, May 21, 2016.

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  1. Correy

    Correy Expert Member
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    This is an example on how the same genus of fungi can have both edible and poisonous species.

    The good twin, Amanita ceasarea, or Ceasar's mushroom, is considered an exquisite delicacy since the time of the Roman Empire.

    Appearence: it has a bright orange-red hue and a white stem and gills

    Characteristics:
    White gill under the cap (which is called a hymenium)
    Convex cap
    Free hanging hymenium
    Stipe has a ring and a volva
    Grows near tree roots (also refered to as mycorrhizal)

    V6vH5jCIbGDWhANBUtG5RnuOFtYSH1ja.jpeg

    The only inhibition one would have at picking with mushroom would be confusing it with A. muscaria, the known psychoactive mushroom.

    V6vH5jCIbGDWhANBUtG5RnuOFtYSH1ja.jpeg

    As you can see A. muscaria has certain differences from A. ceasarea, mostly the white speckles that make the cap of A. muscaria stand out and the almost flat adult cap. The only reason why these two would be mixed up would be if the white speckles were shaven off for some reason, or encountered a species with less speckles, or if the forager hadn't ever seen A.muscaria before.
    With the internet most of us have seen A. muscaria as the symbol of psychoactive drugs and psychedelic culture, but for many people in the past this was a less-known mushroom.

    I'll need to add here that A. muscaria is not only psychoactive but also lethal in high doses.
    (Note: Do not consume these things ever, and if you decide to YOLO on them, we're not responsible for whatever happens to you.)
     
  2. Endure

    Endure Expert Member
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    The A. Muscaria is often subject of running jokes in movies and media in general. You know, the doofus character trope lost in the woods that realizes mushrooms are edible and end up eating an A. Muscaria or some berries to eventually has
    some funny hallucinations.

    A good way to tell the difference between an A. Muscaria and an A. Caesaria is in the stipe's color and ring. The A. Caesaria has a totally yellowish stipe with ring and volva. Unlike Muscaria, which is white with some yellow sometimes.
     
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