Magic mushrooms found in Buckingham Palace

Picture: an amanita muscaria – also known as fly agaric – mushroom. Such a variety has been discovered in the palace grounds.

The presenter Alan Titchmarsh said he found the Amanita muscaria mushrooms during a tour of the 40-acre grounds with an ecology expert while filming The Queen’s Garden, an ITV programme to be broadcast on Christmas day.

The white-spotted red toadstools – also known as fly agaric – may look like the harmless stuff of fairy tales, but they are known to be hallucinogenic and in some cases fatal.

Users have described enduring dreamlike experiences, profuse sweating and even synaesthesia, where senses blur resulting in inverted thinking such as smelling words or tasting colours. Some users report having spiritual experiences.

But the fungi is also known to contain poison which, in rare cases, can cause death if consumed.

‘Natural feature’

The mushroom is thought to have grown naturally in the palace grounds rather than having been planted there.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “There are several hundred fungi species in the palace garden, including a small number of naturally occurring fly agaric mushrooms.

“As the programme explains, they are beneficial to trees, increasing their ability to take in nutrients.”

Royal officials also made clear for the record that fungi from the garden are not used in the palace kitchens.