Destroying Angel, one of the most deadly mushrooms in the world. It has an eerie almost glow to it; you can see it in the distance, with a cool white color that is almost irresistible. It's such a pure and attractive white, the name for it is perfect. Since it's part of the amanita family, the toxin is "amatoxin", which in this case it has in lethal amounts. If you were to ingest it, you would feel intense stomach distress in the next several hours; vomiting, diarrhea, severe stomach cramps. If you weren't to realize what you had eaten, that might be where you think it ends. But after that point, in about 8-12 hours, you would then experience liver and/or kidney failure. Over 68% of those who eat this mushroom, die from it. Most who do survive, need liver or kidney transplants. By the time the second set of symptoms show up, the damage has been done.

Eastern American Destroying Angel, benignly plotting your demise.

It looks so deceptively perfect; the telltale signs are the bulbous "vulva" at the bottom, the frail and delicate gills, and the "cape" at the top of the stalk. In the early stages it can look similar to a puffball, but if you cut them open, the inside of a puffball should look smooth, almost with the texture of a marshmallow. If it has any structure, it's not safe. The kids got a good lesson today in Mommy's Mycologia School. ;)

Note the pure, cool white color, and the bulbous “vulva” at the bottom, from which the mushroom emerged. The vulva is often buried so it requires some digging to uncover.