Amanita virosa is a fungus that everybody who picks mushrooms should be able to identify. a single fungus can contain enough toxin to kill an adult human. the amatoxin in the destoying angel, alpha amanitin is probablpy the most toxic of all the amatoxins.
source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/amanita-virosa#
one of the reasons it is so important to be able to identify it is because it can be confused with other wonderfully delicious mushrooms in particular
Agaricus sylvicola wood mushroom and other Agarics.
but once you have seen each of them there should really be no confusion. the agarics never have pure white gills, even when very young their gills are pale pink or brown and quickly become darker with age.
but even at first glance the young agarics look more like marshmallows or snowballs while a young Amanita virosa has a more pearly sheen that can be characterized as otherworldly. while it may appear more ghostly than angelic, once you see it you will understand how appropriate the english name is.
there are a couple of biblical contexts of the term destroying angel but i believe the relevant one relates to king David in the book of Samuel in the old testament. after winning a decisive battle over the Philistines David's power as a king rose considerably. he called for a census of the people of Israel, in particular of the fighting men. God viewed this poorly and was angry on David and gave him three options as punishment 1) a 3 year famine; 2) 3 months fleeing his enemies and dying by their sword; 3) 3 days of pestilence on the land.
David chose three days of pestilence hoping that God would be merciful but God sent a destroying angel instead and that resulted in the death of 70,000 of his people.
such is the power of the toxin in this ethereal life form springing so freely from the earth
a tip on photographing them- it is easy to overexpose them so on most of these shots i used a faster shutter speed than the auto suggested by the camera. this one shot above with a dark background is overexposed. i included it intentionally to show what happens with the auto settings on the camera. if overexposed you will not get that
special pearly sheen that makes them stand out. it was a cloudy day which reduced the natural contrast of light and shadow in the forest.
the cap opens wider and it flatens as it matures
eventually it loses than pearly gray ghostly sheen and becomes more matte and even slightly tan in color but the gills remain white
having no frills makes it all the more unforgettable. it really is strikingly beautiful and with its simple elegant form it commands respect.
this is my contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw
i took all these shots a few days ago with my S22 phone. some shots have been edited.
