Good Mushroom Bad Mushroom. John Plischke

       Fly Agaric – yellow-orange form

      Gills: Free and crowded. White to whitish. Sometimes barely attached to the stalk.

      Spore Print: White.

      Stalk: 2" – 7¼" tall and ¼ – 1⅜" thick. Whitish but can develop yellowish tones at places. Its universal veil leaves the warts on the cap and on the multiple layers of rings around its roundish, bulb-like base. The rings are one of the keys for ID’ing.

       WHERE, WHEN & HOW TO LOOK

      Where: On the soil under fir, spruce, pine, hemlock, birch, oak – also under madrone, but not often. Typically found under conifers.

      When: June to November. California, fall through the winter into spring

      How they appear: Singly to in small or extremely large groups. Can be either scattered about or growing in a circle around a conifer.

      How common…how rare? Very common.

       LOOK-ALIKES

      Many Amanitas, including: A. muscaria var. persicina, which differs by being peach colored and from the South; the edible but not recommended American Caesar’s Mushroom (A. caesarea)