# Destroying angel (Amanita virosa)

**Amanita virosa*, *A. bisporigera*, *A. ocreata**

**Known today as.** Pure white amanitas of Europe and North America.

Kind: Fungus  
Poisoning: Amatoxin poisoning (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/amatoxin)  
Deadly: yes

> **Deadly.** 

## What was it used for?

None.

## What does modern science say?

Carries the same amatoxins as the death cap, with the same delayed, deceptive course. A single cap holds ten milligrams of alpha-amanitin, enough to kill; the toxin shuts down the enzyme that copies genes into messages, and the liver, which takes it up, dies first. Six to twelve hours of calm follow the meal, then up to a day of explosive vomiting and diarrhoea, then an apparent improvement while the liver fails; death, if it comes, is after four days or more. Silibinin from the milk thistle is among the most promising treatments; when the liver fails, a transplant is often the only hope.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **alpha-amanitin**: 
- **phallacidin**: 

**Mechanism.** As the death cap.

**Dose.** One cap.

**Standing.** None.

## What lore surrounds it?

Its beauty is the danger: a white, clean-looking mushroom easily taken for a young field mushroom or puffball.

In 2006 seven members of the Hmong community in Minnesota were poisoned after taking it for the paddy-straw mushroom of Southeast Asia. The whole white cap, white gills, ring, and the cup at the base, sometimes underground, are its signs.

## Sources

- Wikipedia, “Destroying angel,” en.wikipedia.org (read 2 October 2026).
- Wikipedia, “Amanita virosa,” en.wikipedia.org (read 2 October 2026).
- Wikipedia, “Amanita bisporigera,” en.wikipedia.org (read 2 October 2026).

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*Destroying angel.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/destroying-angel

Historical description, not medical advice.