Edith Holden documented much about fungi in her November 1906 diary entry. On 3rd November she wrote.
“I brought home a little book on British Toad-stools, with photographs of 65 different varieties. I was disappointed not to find my beautiful scarlet spotted toad-stool among them.”
Perhaps Edith was referring to what we now call the Fly Agaric.
‘The Amanita muscaria mushroom, commonly called Fly Agaric, got its name in 1753 when Carl Linnaeus gave it the species name muscarius (Latin for "fly") because it was used to repel flies. It was later moved to the genus Amanita in 1783 by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, leading to its current full scientific name Amanita muscaria.’
Edith also refers to some people eating toadstools more so than others.
‘In another note the author states, that there are a great number of British Toadstools with are edible and which are exceedingly nutritious as an article of diet, but in Britain the Mushroom is almost the only fungus eaten; although abroad Toad-stools are eaten in great quantities.’
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