Always glad to share what I know about funghi (and what I don't) and you are right Teen76 I have the same worries about what people learn from these television shows.
I always have people turning up to the funghi forays that I run or help out on who bring along funghi they found cos they look like the ones they had seen being picked on telly, most of the time they get it wrong.
Luckily the percentage of nasty funghi is small compared to the overall amount
I just found my first of the season St Georges Mushroom which is wonderful to eat and easily identified when you know what to look for.
Well done for identifying the avatar, not a magic mushroom but the skin does contain a compound that produces effects similar to the magic mushroom. Some accounts tell that Lapland shaman used to feed the dried skins to reindeer and then collect and distill their urine and drink it and then proclaim that they have had visions (no suprise really).
Regards,
Argaric
