We’re entering the best time to go hunting for wild mushrooms in Down East Maine. They can be beautiful and fascinating. Some are delicious, others are sickeningly toxic, a few are potentially fatal if ingested. Those that are harmful to eat were historically called “toadstools” and associated with toxic toads and witchcraft.
Thus, IF YOU’RE NOT A WITCH AND YOU’RE NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT A MUSHROOM IS SAFELY EDIBLE, LIMIT YOUR ENJOYMENT OF IT TO CELEBRATING YOUR LUCK AT FINDING SOMETHING SO INTERESTING – AND DON’T LET YOUR DOG SNACK ON IT, EITHER!
Below, you’ll see a yellow version of a mushroom that I think is a fly agaric (Aminita muscaria), a toxic mushroom featuring a bright yellow or red cap with white wart-like spots. The name “agaric” refers to a capped mushroom; “fly agaric” is a recognition of the practice by older European cultures of putting pieces of the mushroom in milk or water to stun or kill flies. Don’t eat an insecticide.
I’m reasonably sure that the mushroom below is one of the Russula (“red”) fungi. My guess after some research is that it is a Russula emetica (aka “the sickener”). Human consumption of it is reported to result in rapid gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, and vomiting. Don’t eat anything called “a sickener,” unless you’re a slug like the pne eating this Russala.
Both of these mushrooms are a joy to see while walking through the woods. Leave then there for others to enjoy.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 20, 2026.)