Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria

The common name Fly Amanita comes from this musrhoom traditionally being used as an insecticide.  The caps were crushed and placed in a saucer of milk to attract flies. It is a variable species with several color varieties recognized (red, salmon-red, orange, or yellow),. The cherry-red form is not frequently found in North Carolina. 

Its fruiting bodies may reach nearly 12 inches in diameter and 6-8 inches high emerging from the ground covered with pointed white or yellow warts or "scales".  As it expands, the warts become more widely distributed and the cap color will show through.  Its margin is striate and the close white gills are not attached to stalk.  The stalk is white to off-white with a somewhat bulbous base.  The thin annulus is white or with some yellow patches.  The stalk below the annulus has scales, often in concentric rings.  The spore print is white.

They are typically found in forests or other natural areas either singly, scattered, in dense groups or even in "fairy rings" in mixed hardwood-pine forests.  They can also appear in landscaped situations.