amanita

[Gr. ἀμανῖται ( amanita i ), plur. a sort of fungi. From "Αμανος ( Amanos ), a mountain in Cilicia, where many fungi grew.] A sub-genus of Agaric us, the typical genus of the alliance Fungales, and the order Agaric aceæ. The A. muscaria is ordinarily poisonous, so much so that the name muscaria (from musca = a fly) is designed to imply that the Amanita steeped in milk kills the flies which partake of the liquid thus poisoned. Yet, so much does the quality of a fungus depend on climate and place of growth, that, if Langsdorf is accurate, the A. muscaria in Kamschatka and other portions of North-eastern Asia, is not poisonous, but only intoxicating. ( Lindley : Veg. Kingd ., p. 38.)