Deadly Destroying Angel mushrooms (Amanita virosa), such as this one seen yesterday, seem to be more numerous here this August. Perhaps it’s the unusual high humidity that we’ve been having.
In any case, this little fungus and its cousin, the Death Cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides), are the most dangerous things that mushroom-eating collectors can find in the Maine woods since poisonous snakes were extirpated from the State. Another view of the Angel:
Unless you really know your wild mushrooms, do with any white-gilled mushroom what you’d do with a rattlesnake – leave it alone. (Brooklin, Maine)