This eye-catching cluster of orange toadstools is possibly Amanita muscaria, whose common name is fly agaric. “Agaric” simply means it’s a mushroom with gills on the underside of the cap, and the “fly” part of the name comes from its use to kill flies in parts of Europe. Poisonous to flies, poisonous to us. Fly agaric starts out with white spots, but those can wash off in heavy rains, and there had been a lot of heavy rain in the days before this photo was taken at Lake Rotoiti.
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