Amanita muscaria

Here is a kind of mushroom that I look for every year because they are so colorful and have such a long and controversial history. Consequently I was very happy when I was alerted to this group growing in one of Victoria's residential neighborhoods. These beauties are both poisonous and psychoactive. They are called Amanita Muscaria or Fly Agaric and are probably the mushroom that most people think of when they think of wild mushrooms.