Adder'S Fern vs Fly Agaric

Polypodium vulgare compared with Amanita muscaria

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Adder'S Fern	Fly Agaric
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Fungi (Fungi)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Agaricomycetes (Mushrooms)
Order	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)	Agaricales (Gilled Mushrooms)
Family	Polypodiaceae	Agaricaceae (Agarics)
Genus	Polypodium	Amanita (Amanitas)
Species	Polypodium vulgare	Amanita muscaria

Conservation Status

Adder'S Fern

LC — Least Concern

Fly Agaric

LC — Least Concern

Trend: Stable →

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Adder'S Fern	Fly Agaric
Diet	—	Decomposer
Average Lifespan	—	1 years
Average Length	—	20 cm
Average Weight	—	100 g

Habitat & Geographic Range

Adder'S Fern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Found across Europe (7 countries) and North America (United States).

Fly Agaric

Habitat

Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (4 countries), North America (United States), Oceania and the Pacific (New Zealand), and South America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia).

Adder'S Fern

The Adder'S Fern (Polypodium vulgare) is a species in the genus Polypodium. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. This species inhabits Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies, found across Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway.

Fly Agaric

Among the most iconic and recognizable fungi on Earth, fly agaric mushrooms display striking red caps with white flecked warts across boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite their fairy-tale appearance, they contain potent psychoactive compounds including muscimol and ibotenic acid and are moderately toxic. They form critical mycorrhizal symbioses with birch, pine, and spruce trees, exchanging mineral nutrients for carbon and playing essential roles in boreal forest nutrient cycling.