The blog of Steve Root

Red Mushroom, White Spots, found on my walk through the woods

Photo of a red mushroom with white spots
Red Mushroom with white spots

I love mushrooms. As an alternative to cheese (one of my other loved foods), I love mushroom sandwiches too. Bread is of course my other loved food. Yes, I’m a cheese sandwhich junkie first, mushroom sandwich junkie second.

Imagine my joy when walking through the woods to find this beauty. I’ve heard it said that most mushrooms in the UK are OK to eat… fortunately I don’t think ‘most’ is anywhere near a good enough probability ratio to experiment with. I did spend 10 minutes on my PDA accessing the internet to identify it but gave up and carried on walking. Having now looked up what this mushroom is, it’s an Amanita Muscaria and the website of “Rogers Mushrooms” give it an edibility rating of “Deadly”.

Perhaps the bright red cap with white spiky bits on top of the red are natures way of telling me “Red is danger, spiky bits mean danger too so you really don’t want to eat me Steve!”, that and I thought it looked like a friendly cartoon mushroom far to good to eat, happily growing in tree dappled sunshine.

Update: Steve in the comments section posted a link to a YouTube video from BBC Worldwide talking about this mushroom

Comments

53 responses to “Red Mushroom, White Spots, found on my walk through the woods”

  1. ed

    Where did you find that mushroom and the state. Please send info!!!!

    Reply
    1. Pink rock

      I found a big huge red mushroom in the wood in Oregon

      Reply
    2. barbara day

      do these usually grow in Ireland. they in my garden

      Reply
  2. Terra

    I was reading about these the other day on the internet on my moms phone and it reads these mushrooms can cause nausea or some kind of intoxication. What does that mean? It says they’re safe to eat but doesn’t give directions on how to fix them to be ready to eat? Do you have any answers on that one?

    Reply
    1. Naturewalker

      They are psychedelic. My friend said dry them for 7 months upside down.

      Reply
  3. mango

    i spotted those too !!!!!!! a whole colony of them!

    Reply
    1. mikey

      The way the ancient shamans used these mushrooms was to actually let reindeer eat them and then drink the pee. The reindeer are able to clean the poisons that are toxic to humans

      Reply
  4. Michael M. Hobby

    Steve,

    The Amanita Muscaria is at the center of religious and ancient art from the beginning of history. It can be deadly, but if dried and prepared properly can open your eyes to a reality (not this one)you never knew existed. There is a rather long but informative video by two scientists on this subject I watched with astonishment as I am also a scientist, but a problem with my computer caused me to lose it. You’ll find it as I did on the internet. Eye-opener is an understatement. Just thought I should be fair and let you know. The rest is up to you.

    Reply
  5. Steve

    Sorry for the slow publishing folks,

    @ed: in woodland south of Dunkirk, near Canterbury, Kent, UK. Google Map here

    @Terra & @Michael, I’ve no plans to try eating any

    Reply
  6. Matthew

    or you could come to australia and they grow where ever you walk lol

    Reply
  7. Jack Cola

    I just looked out my bedroom window and saw this mushroom all by itself on the front lawn. It’s good to know it’s poisonous.

    I have never seen it before but Googling red mushroom white spots came up on Google Suggest.

    Also, I am in Australia as well and it has just rained.

    Reply
  8. Charger

    I have also Found this mushroom out Side of our construction worksite in AK

    Reply
  9. Liz Howarth

    I too see these mushrooms every day. On Skipwith Common in North Yorkshire (between York and Selby.) I live on the road leading to the common. There are quite a few patches of them.

    Reply
  10. harry smith

    this red mushrooms all over the place found loads in nottinghamshire uk and they are drying out 4 a sample :/
    my friend told me about these shrooms and says cup of tea with a gram of dryed shroom u will trip ur bollex of 🙂 but he is still here so cant be that harmfull ??
    ill post 2 let u no how i go 🙂

    Reply
  11. paul

    I just went camping at the Wowo site near Tunbridge Wells and saw loads of these – some that look just that picture and some with a more “umbrella” top. Amazing!

    Reply
  12. STEVE

    just to let you know the are also happily growing in a park in vancouver bc canada.looks like a bit of a magical city around the bottom of a silver birch tree.they are edible(i think) if boiled first,but how good va=can a boiled mushroom tatse like.regards

    Reply
  13. George

    I see this mushroom in Washington state on the upper left coast. I see them when walking the dogs in the Hood Canal area

    Reply
  14. Lou Le Blanc

    Hello, My husband and I were out walking yesterday, it’s a walk we take everyday and we spotted the Red mushroom with white spots, so i got on the computer and identified it. We live in Veneta, Oregon it is 20 miles east of Eugene, Oregon and 200 miles south of Portland Oregon.. On our walk tomorrow i am going to take a picture of it. I have never seen one like it around here. There are 2 of them but one is especially beautiful.. Nice to know they are poison. Just wanted to let you know.
    Sincerly, Lou Le Blanc…

    Reply
  15. tom

    those types of mushrooms if prepared properly can lead to extraordinary hallucinations like you are lost in time in a new diminsion

    Reply
  16. Nienke

    Tom, how does one prepare it properly???

    Reply
  17. Jeff

    Oddly enough snails and slugs love this mushroom. Maybe that’s their way of not being eaten by birds?

    Reply
  18. Barry

    this is a fly argaric mushroom, very common in woodland areas across the UK, very hallucinagenic.

    Reply
  19. Jackie

    I just went to visit a friend as she’s moved house and low and behold right outside her front door is a small park area with a kids play area and I counted about 7 different types of mushrooms growing around 1 single tree and this was one of them!

    She’s going to report it to the Local Council 1st thing Monday.

    Reply
  20. rannard

    my dad just seen one of these!! and 3 elves apparently, lol

    Reply
  21. Linda Sweeney

    We have them growing in our garden, lots of them in Heswall, Wirral. They are so pretty that I mow around them

    Reply
    1. Phil

      My garden is full of them! Any reason why? Ellesmere Port here

      Reply
  22. Ivy Fabro

    Today, I saw this same type of mushroom while I’m walking at first I though it was a red rubber spiky ball but when i go near i notice it is mushroom it is beautiful and suddenly I remember the Gnomeo and Juliet Movie.. LOL So i took some pictures of it then i try to find out the name, if it is poisonous etc. and thanks to you my question already got an answer… ^____^

    Reply
  23. Debbie

    I have a cloud of these under my birch trees. They look wonderful… just glad my grandchildren aren’t around right now. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

    Reply
  24. Kathy

    found 2 under my red oak this morning in the Mississippi Delta

    Reply
  25. Amanda

    I just found one while walking my dog… I live in an apartment complex and never found this here before. It has been raining everyday so maybe that is why it is here in GA,ATL

    Reply
  26. Brian

    Spotted these in south west Germany, and ones with umbrella tops too, very njce to look at’

    Reply
  27. Gigi Schuetzle

    I just found a patch of these today in my neighborhood.(Eureka, California) Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

    Reply
  28. Michael – I found one today in my yard in Monterey California. Tom hasn’t (yet) defined “properly prepared”.

    As above, I found one today growing in a grove of large Monterey Pines at my home on Monterey California.

    Reply
  29. Miles

    My dad found these in Poulsbo Washington on his morning walk and has some pictures to show how cool they look, but I see they are really bad mushrooms.

    Reply
    1. Miles

      I will get him to send me some pictures, so I can show everyone what the Washinton State ones look like too.

      Reply
  30. steve

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MkCS9ePWuLU#!

    Reply
    1. sroot

      Thanks for the link!
      For everyone else, it’s a clip from BBC Worldwide with a video of the same type of mushroom. If you’re reading this, it’s worth watching

      Reply
  31. Ursula Finnan

    I found two of these mushrooms on a walk through the woods near Ward Lake, in Colorado. Very pretty and apparently deadly. I left them there!

    Reply
  32. Julie

    Hello, we have a red mushroom with white spots growing on it’s own in our garden in London Colney, St Albans. There has never been one here in the past 11 years. It is so beautiful and such a surprise. Yes the slugs love it.

    Reply
  33. Julie

    Sorry I should say I’m in the UK.

    Reply
  34. ARLIE LEWIS

    I WAS WORKING OUTSIDE THE EASTSIDE ATHLETIC CLUB IN CLACKAMAS, OREGON AND I FOUND FOUR VERY DIFFERENT MUSHROOMS GROWING RIGHT OUT OF THE BARKDUST. I HAD NEVER SEEN THESE RED WITH WHITE SPOT MUSHROOMS BEFORE, I SURE WAS SURPRISED. I BROUGHT ONE SPECIMIN HOME AND LOOKED IT UP ON THE COMPUTER, DONT EAT IT !!!!!!

    Reply
    1. Elizabeth

      I have them growing on my back lawn in Nottinghamshire…

      Reply
  35. Mark

    A single cap definitely won’t kill you. They’re hallucinogenic, though.

    Reply
  36. jackle tyson

    Hey steve why didnt u make mushroom soup thats what I do on minecraft when I need food

    Reply
    1. sroot

      lol
      Real life is like Minecraft Hardcore mode, but with mushrooms that can be deadly poisonous – I’d suggest you don’t try using these mushrooms for soup 😉

      Reply
  37. Terrance

    I have eaten these with my brother one night camping, didn’t boil them just pulled them out the ground and started eating the tops slowly then we thought there was ants crawling out of them then realised we were just starting to trip balls! And trip balls we did but take them very wisely because they are VERY VERY potent

    Reply
    1. Steve Root

      I still think you are better *NOT* eating them!

      Reply
  38. Jan Kavanagh

    Hi Steve – last week I saw a group of the redcap toadstools in all their glory – and was so impressed by them I took a couple of photos – yesterday I realised the top I had bought on the same day had a design containing the redcap! This coincidence led me to look up and therefore come across your site. When reading your site I realise you have a a web site with the name Ruby ( which was my mothers name) plus your kitchen business has the name Waghorn included which also happened to be my mothers maiden name!
    Strange co-incidences – felt I just had to say!

    Reply
    1. Naturewalker

      That’s pretty neat! Hope he gets your response!!!

      Reply
  39. Nick

    Hello
    I’ve never came close too one of these wonderful coloured shaped mushrooms ever in my life
    But today walking throw a crematorium in my home town
    A town in Somerset in England under a pine tree was
    This mushroom it had some of the colours left
    It looked as if squirrel had of attracted it
    I looked around there was no more of these mushrooms or any sign of a dead squirrel

    Reply
  40. Cailleach

    For every edible mushroom, there is a poisonous version, that looks the same.
    This is not true the other way around though.

    Reply
  41. san thomas

    just been chestnuting and a hobby photography ,and came across the beautiful red and yellow spotted mushroom ,id never seen a mushroom like that before ,when got back I did reacherch on the mushrooms and they are believed to be deadly ,giving stomach cramps ,vomiting and can cause serious harm if eaten

    Reply
  42. brian blackmore

    on a walk with the dogs I saw,under a tree,a light coloured mushroom with red spots on.
    can anyone help with identity. this was in Nottinghamshire. thank you

    Reply

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