I try very hard to avoid "black mushrooms" at all costs. Death always seems to surround them. Amanita phalloides /æməˈnaɪtə fəˈlɔɪdiːz/, commonly known as the death cap, is a deadly poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Widely distributed across Europe, A. phalloides forms ectomycorrhizas with various broadleaved trees. In some cases, the death cap has been introduced to new regions with the cultivation of non-native species of oak, chestnut, and pine. The large