The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fly amanita \Fly amanita\, Fly fungus \Fly fungus\ . (Bot.) A poisonous mushroom ( Amanita muscaria, syn. Agaricus muscarius), having usually a bright red or yellowish cap covered with irregular white spots. It has a distinct volva at the base, generally an upper ring on the stalk, and white spores. Called also fly agaric, deadly amanita.
Amanita \Am`a*ni"ta\, n. [NL. See Amanitine.] (Bot.) A genus of poisonous fungi of the family Agaricace[ae], characterized by having a volva, an annulus, and white spores. The species resemble edible mushrooms, and are frequently mistaken for them. Amanita muscaria, syn. Agaricus muscarius, is the fly amanita, or fly agaric; and Agaricus phalloides is the death cup (or death cap).
Wikipedia
Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Amanita muscaria has been unintentionally introduced to many countries in the Southern Hemisphere, generally as a symbiont with pine and birch plantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees.
This iconic toadstool is a large white- gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, and is one of the most recognisable and widely encountered in popular culture. Several subspecies with differing cap colour have been recognised, including the brown regalis (often considered a separate species), the yellow-orange flavivolvata, guessowii, formosa, and the pinkish persicina. Genetic studies published in 2006 and 2008 show several sharply delineated clades that may represent separate species.
Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from its ingestion are extremely rare. After parboiling—which weakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactive substances—it is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. The mushroom was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the peoples of Siberia, and has a religious significance in these cultures. There has been much speculation on possible traditional use of this mushroom as an intoxicant in other places such as the Middle East, Eurasia, North America, and Scandinavia.
Usage examples of "amanita muscaria".
Stylized hemp leaves surround the angels' heads, and their halos resemble the cap of the amanita muscaria mushroom in The Third Day of Creation, entrance hall of San Marco painted in Venice, Italy.
We had reached that point of hunger when brain cells begin to die, producing a natural state of stonedness far beyond pot-high, something like what I imagine the Hippie old-timers must experience when they eat amanita muscaria and psilocybin mushrooms.
At that time of my life, at age twenty-eight, I had experienced the effects of alcohol, pot, hash, opium, LSD, STP, MDA, DMT, mescaline (organic and synthetic), psilocybin (ditto), peyote, amanita muscaria, a few licks of crystal meth, and medically administered morphine.
I do not believe that there is a single known psychoactive drug of which some of my friends is not a user/proponent/proselyte, and in the ensuing month I tried at least 3 dosage levels of (in order) marijuana, alcohol, hashish, LSD, STP, PCP, synthetic THC, benzedrine, methedrine, ibogaine, amyl nitrate, Valium, Lib-rium, mescaline (real and synthetic), and psilocybin (likewise), amanita muscaria, peyote, yohimbe bark, ginseng root, nitrous oxide, and 3 others which even the source could not name -- in addition, of course, to my usual caffeine and nicotine.