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.

The Old and The New

The Vic West Neighbourhood is rapidly changing and the contrast between old and new is quite remarkable. - Fern

The Disappearing Sun

This weekend we turn the clocks back one hour and face the final stretch of ever shortening days until December 21st, the Winter Solstice. - Fern

Colorful Fungi

Above is the first mushroom I spied on my walk around Thetis Lake Park earlier this week and its extraordinary color was only a hint of the wide mycological palette I have experienced over the last few days. Had anyone told me I would be seeing blue or maroon mushrooms this week I would have doubted them. But here's proof. The hobbity mushroom below was photographed in Mount Douglas Park (Pkols).

Bumper Crop 2

This photo, taken from our ramble yesterday through the woods on Pkols (Mount Douglas), shows some of the wealth of fungi that are exploding out of the ground here right now. Not only are these mushrooms numerous, they are BIG. I have mentioned before that fall is like another spring here with the new growth of ferns, mosses and lichens and that autumn's mushrooms are analogous to spring's wildflowers but I've never seen such an extraordinary number and variety of mushrooms before - I've seen at least fifteen different kinds in the last few days. Today I plan to check out Swan Lake since it is quite a different habitat and may exhibit a few more species to add to my collection.