What kind of mushroom did Alice eat?

Answer 1

Lewis Carroll didn't specify what type of mushroom the Caterpillar is sitting on so we have to put on our detective hats and work it out for ourselves.

Carroll describes the mushroom as being large, and about the same height as Alice (she is three inches tall at this point). He also says that it is perfectly round, and that Alice has to "stretch her arms round it as far as they would go" in order to reach both sides.

From this, we might surmise that it is three inches tall and its circumference is about six inches, which suggests a veryapproximate diameter of two inches.

We know that the Caterpillar is sitting on it, so it seems reasonable to assume that it has a flat top and we know that Alice finds it growing from the ground in a grassy area in a wood, in England, in early May.

Tenniel's illustration of the mushroom greatly resembles the original picture Carroll drew in his hand-written manuscript, Alice's Adventures Under Ground, the precursor to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, except that Carroll's depiction shows it as slightly more domed than Tenniel's. In the coloured versions of his pictures, Tenniel shows the mushroom as being typically 'mushroom' coloured. It is not unreasonable to accept the illustrations of the mushroom as evidence as to what type of mushroom it might be, as Carroll closely oversaw Tenniel while he was drawing the pictures for Alice, and gave him very specific instructions as to what he wanted.

To see the illustrations of the mushroom, follow the related links below.

Using the Rogers Mushrooms website (see related link) as an identification guide, several candidates occur as to which mushroom is featured in Carroll's book; Entoloma saundersii, Melanoleuca cognata, Russula nauseosa, Entoloma clypeatum, and Stropharia aeruginosa. Follow the related links to see more details of these mushrooms.

Martin Gardner's Annotated Alice suggests that it might be Amanita fulva.

Many readers have referred me to old books, which Carroll could have read, that describe the hallucinogenic properties of certain mushrooms. Amanita muscaria (or fly agaric) is most often cited. Eating it produces hallucinations in which time and space are distorted. However, as Robert Hornback makes clear in his delightful "Garden Tour of Wonderland," in Pacific Horticulture (Pall1983), this cannot be the mushroom drawn by Tenniel:

Amanita muscaria has bright red caps that appear to be splattered with bits of cottage cheese. The Caterpillar's perch is, instead, a smooth-capped species, very like Amanita fulva, which is nontoxic and rather tasty. We might surmise that neither Tenniel nor Carroll wanted childrento emulate Alice and end up eating poisonous mushrooms.