HARBINGER OF AUTUMN

You know autumn has arrived when the grass verges around town sprout their fairy rings of mushrooms and, less temptingly, puffballs and scary looking ‘witches eggs’ or lace caps.

Conditions must have been good this year for fungi. Check out these colourful toadstools straight out of a volume of fairytales. This has to be the quintessential fungus, with its pretty white spots and scarlet cap, one of the most recognisable and widely encountered in popular culture.

Looks good enough to eat, but better not to try! This ‘magic mushroom’ goes by the correct name of Amanita muscaria or commonly the ‘fly agaric’. It’s poisonous and also contains the hallucinogen muscimol. This substance can bring on a range of different reactions from relaxation to anger. It’s been said that it could cause consumers to be “very jolly or sad, jump about, dance, sing or give way to great fright”. Not a good look on the streets of Martinborough!