Red Mushroom...fascinating and poisonous!

It was impossible not to notice this deep red, white-spotted mushroom during our walk on the campus, few days back. It was there, just one, but a big one, under the pine trees. We were so fascinated by it that we decided to take a picture (luckily we had our camera with us). Back home, we decided to get some details about the red mushroom, so we checked about it on the internet and found some very interesting facts regarding this Amanita Muscaria (the red mushroom’s binomial name).

Amanita Muscaria is native to conifer woodlands throughout the temperature regions of the Northern Hemisphere. So how did it land in New Zealand? Well, it is said that conveyed with pine seedlings, it has been widely transported into the Southern Hemisphere, including Australia,New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

This red mushroom is considered to be poisonous. However, it is used in some cultures for its hallucinogenic properties. In many places around the world, this mushroom has traditionally been used as an intoxicant. At last, the one nice thing we came across while reading about this mushroom, is that it is often present on Christmas and New Year cards as a symbol of good luck.

A simple walk turned out to be enriching in the end…