NATURE COLUMN: Bill Cawley
I NOTICED on Facebook Megan Davies – who makes and sells chocolate at her very nice shop in Getliffe’s Yard in Leek – posted pictures of mushrooms taken at a walk around Bosley Woods.
I don’t know if she ate the fungus but I guess the dangers of picking the wrong type of mushroom can be fatal.
According to the Roman historian Suetonius the Emperor Claudius was killed off by his wife by a lethal dose of poisonous fungi and a Renaissance Pope Clement VII was also bumped off in the same fashion by a rival keen on acquiring the Papacy.
Apparently there are myths that surround whether a mushroom is safe or not. My Mother told me that her father believed that if mushrooms were boiled in water the resultant pink colouring meant that the mushroom was safe. It appears not to be the case- so better take care.
Megan did not say on her walk around Bosley whether she had encountered a ring of mushrooms, known in France as “sorcerer rings” and in Sussex as “hag tracks,” which can vary in size and can even remain in one spot for years.
The circles were thought to have supernatural origins. In country areas it was believed that they arose from witches dancing the night prior.
In Dutch lore the ring was the mark left behind by Satan’s milk churn.
The flaming tails of dragons were believed to cause the circles in Austria, and in Celtic folktales the ring was where the fairies danced.
A former quarry worker claimed to have seen thus at Cauldon Low or so he claimed (he may have been under the influence of magic mushrooms).
The power of the fairy ring was as variable as its origin with some believing the ring good luck, promising good luck while others seeing it as a curse.
Often the ring was seen as an entrance to another world and caution was recommended before breaking the sacredness of the circle.
Caution, however, should also be exercised in approaching the toadstool the fly agaric.
It has achieved something of an iconic status.
It often appears in Enid Blyton stories with elves and fairies sheltering under them from the elements.
The white stem topped with the red and white spotted head which proclaims that it is poisonous although it can be eaten and some have ingested the toadstool for its known hallucinogenic effect.
It got the name fly agaric because in olden times it has been used as an insecticide.
But perhaps the most famous story draws on a Viking association. Modern research has also shown the chemicals in the fungus can affect the brain inhibiting fear and causing a state of elation.
This would support the theory that the ferocious Berserker warriors used fly agaric prior to going into battle, bringing on the fearlessness for which they were renowned.