Amanita Muscaria
Common Name: Agaric Fly, Fly Amanita: The toxic properties of the fungus were used to avoid flying, although there are questions about the correctness of this confirmation
Scientific name: Amanita Muscaria The generic name is taken directly from The fly agaric is the most famous mushroom in the world; a dance group in Fantasia, a caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, and five of the top ten Google images for mushrooms. Both are associated with controlled substances that have psychoactive associations. Their paths may have crossed, the mushroom providing the means for the rock star’s higher goals. The rock star as a psychedelic drug user is a caricature of an enduring legacy. Ease of identification coupled with a wide geographic distribution (found on every continent except Antarctica) have contributed to the worldwide prominence of the fly agaric for sale, it has played a prominent role in the cultures of many regions and is, therefore, an object of some ethnological interest. First of all, as the name suggests, it’s a fly’s nightmare.
The mushroom fly swatter is steeped in storied traditions dating back to ancient times. Saint Albert the Great, the famous Dominican bishop and defender of Thomas Aquinas, wrote in his 13th-century book De vegetabilibus (Of Plants) that the well-known red-and-white fungus was used by North Germanic tribes to kill flies by hitting him on a bowl of milk. [1] The fungus’s dipteric lethality was institutionalized in its first scientific listing in Linnaean taxonomy as Agaricus muscarius (the Latin word for fly is musca; the genus was later changed to Amanita). [2] Linnaeus believed that the fungus could also be used to kill bed bugs based on numerous reports of the practice in his native Sweden. The well-known French botanist Jean Bulliard apparently questioned the validity of the pesticidal properties, writing in 1779 in Histoire des Plantes Vénéneuses et Suspectes de la France: “I have never noticed that it kills flies as some authors claim. I kept copies in my apartment. Fly on, and eat even without effect. The only experiment that has shown a consistent effect on flies is that the growth of Drosophila melanogaster larvae (the famous fruit flies of early genetic experiments) was inhibited when fed mushroom powder. [4] The most popular field guide to the mushrooms of North America correctly states that “it was used mixed with milk to euthanize houseflies”, which is historically correct as it does not refer to potency. [5] The myth of Amanita muscaria as a fly swatter has survived to this day; In 2016, a study on Slovenian folk methods of fly-catching using a variety of fly agaric preparations was published in a scientific journal. Stunts that improve kill rate with the glossed over fly swatter.
