Before Christmas Alan Titchmarsh, the TV gardening pundit, found the mushroom fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) in the lawn of Buckingham Palace. Commonly known as magic mushroom, it is in fact poisonous. In early November, Mary Hickey of Kilkenny sent in a beautiful photograph of the same mushroom that she took locally. In May, Sonny Jackson of Rochestown, Cork, and, in August, Dermod O'Donovan sent photographs and cross sections of another mushroom, the death cap, Amanita phalloides – also poisonous.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address
